


Light of the Shattered Moon

by LeafyCat03



Series: Light of the Shattered Moon - Ruby Re-Write [1]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Dark Fantasy, Gen, Minor Original Character(s), Rewrite, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-20
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-18 10:02:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 27,927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28865226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeafyCat03/pseuds/LeafyCat03
Summary: A re-write of RWBY with the focus on realism and making the characters and plot as interesting as possible.It'll follow the plot of the series at the start, and divert away.24 chapters per "volume".Gonna be a full series.
Series: Light of the Shattered Moon - Ruby Re-Write [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2118483
Comments: 5
Kudos: 10





	1. Little Red Riding Hood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Beginning of a Journey

A young girl strode through the cantor and din of Vale, basking in the vast city's brilliant nightlife. Bright neon signs blared out their messages, grand proposals that streamed past the young Ruby Rose's eyes as she wandered about. None of the signs she was observing held the object of her desire, as much as she wanted to explore what the theatres and weapons shops of Vale contained. Rather, her aimless wandering was in pursuit of dust- a fuel source used by the peoples of Remnant to grease the engines of their society; and fight off the mindless hordes of Grimm.

She rounded a corner, observing the changing landscape through pearlesque eyes, the bright sheen of gray glittering from the lights of the city around her. Down at the end of the block was a small strip-mall, at the bottom of which sat a relatively small dust-shop; windows populated by banners guaranteeing the quality of their goods, with the logo of the Schnee Dust Company plastered everywhere. The shop itself lacked the branding, however, even Ruby could tell that this was a subsidiary of the main Vale branch. Near the front of the store stood some oddly dapper-dressed men. On their heads sat carefully tailored bowler-hats, and each carried a cane to accentuate their black suits. Beneath a blazer was a bright, crimson-coloured button-up that was visually bisected by a black tie. Quietly, Ruby wondered to herself if these men were some kind of private security company as she approached.  
"Hey, uh, hello?" The small girl's voice echoed through the otherwise abandoned street, the men not taking notice initially. It wasn't until Ruby stood directly in front and addressed them, that they finally turned to look. "Hey!"  
"Whaddaya want, kid?" The man spoke in a heavy accent, one Ruby couldn't exactly recognize.  
"Oh! Uhm, yeah. Uh, I can go in, right?" The girl pointed to the store and the men simply shook their heads.  
"No, you can't. In fact, you should probably get out of here if you don't want no trouble, kid." Ruby blinked for a moment as the men looked away from her, back towards the shop.  
"Uhh… What's… Going on here…?" The men couldn't help but chuckle slightly at Ruby's confusion.  
"Ever heard of a robbery, kid?" Ruby blinked once, then again; studying the faces of the two men who'd quietly dropped the only hint she needed to hear as her eyes narrowed.  
"Oh… It's being robbed?" The men nodded. "And are you with those guys robbing the shop?" They frowned, eyes obscured by the dark shades they were wearing.  
"And what if we are?" Ruby smiled at their response and, before the man in front of her could react, her leg swung sharply upwards against his groin.  
"Then I guess I'll have to beat you!"

The girl quickly drew distance between her and the armed goons, leaping back a metre as she drew her weapon, a massive scythe she'd dubbed "Crescent Rose". Unfolding quickly, it soon assumed the outstretched position which allowed her to fight. A moment later bringing the butt of her blade downwards against the shoulder of the second goon. The man yelped in pain as something beneath her weapon popped out of place. Maintaining the momentum, she used the weapon as leverage to throw herself into the air. Coming against the side of a building, then pushing off, she leapt around the street with seemingly impossible dexterity, far too much for any normal girl of her size. Mere seconds later, after retracting the weapon to its rifle form, its stock connected against the cheek of the first mook- knocking him out just after he'd returned to his feet.

The men inside hadn't remained oblivious to the scuffle, however, and another pair had appeared in the street to assault her. Raising their guns, a stream of bullets soared past Ruby as she rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding the smoking-hot lead. Now in cover, she closed her eyes for a moment and uttered a small prayer, beckoning forth her aura to protect her. Her soul manifested around her body, forming a protective shell that'd help her avoid most serious injuries. Diving back out into the street, she quickly activated her semblance: bursting into a stream of red that wove between the gunfire that peppered the street behind her. As she came out of her ability, her fore-foot squeaked against the asphalt road as she charged at her remaining assailants. Like the two before, they were quickly dispatched; the aura-less men beaten down by the strength of a would-be huntress.

"What the hell is going on out… here…" A voice appeared behind Ruby as she made sure the four men she'd beaten were properly down for the count. The clicking of soles against the ground coupled with the tapping of a cane and, as Ruby spun to look at the man, she was greeted with the sight of someone she'd seen all over TV.  
"Wh- wait! You're that Torchwick guy!" She quickly stepped back, falling into a combat stance as she prepared to fight him. The man simply smiled, twirling his cane as he looked over the girl.  
"Ah, that explains things. A wannabe huntress, sticking her nose where it doesn't belong." Ruby scowled, looking over the notorious criminal who stood before her.  
"Yeah, well, maybe you shouldn't rob dust stores then, huh?" Torchwick laughed.  
"Oh honey, you poor, poor girl. It's not my fault I need it and nobody is willing to drop the price~" His words had an unusual cadence to them and reeked of lies.  
"Yeah save it for the judge! I'm gonna bring you in!" The man smiled, looking at Ruby directly now.  
"Then try it, girlie."

The man had no aura, but immediately he left Ruby on the back-foot. For all her training, she couldn't do much more than parry away his cane as he jabbed and struck against her. Behind him she could see more goons appear, grabbing the unconscious bodies of their companions as well as cases of dust taken from inside. Torchwick, however, paid this no mind as he continued forcing Ruby away from the building. She was getting frustrated but had grasped the man's plan quickly enough. He could beat her any time he wanted, but he was just buying time. Folding into her semblance, Ruby dodged beneath one of Roman's strikes before spinning, striking at his back with her scythe- only for the strike to be parried away. Even the strength granted by her aura wouldn't help her. A second later one of Torchwick's men called out to him, and the criminal leapt away. Giving a slight bow, the man spoke: "Well now, I think it's time I take my leave, girlie. I've got things to do, after all." As he rose back up, he threw something down- only for it to burst into smoke as whatever components were inside ignited.

Ruby stepped back, coughing from the smoke-bomb. She rubbed her eyes with her sleeve, trying to remove the particles as tears streamed out. In the distance, she could see Torchwick begin to ascend a ladder, and Ruby quickly bid pursuit. Folding her weapon away, she stowed it back on her belt as she used her semblance to gain speed, quickly reaching and then climbing the ladder- only to see another person had already reached him. Still smiling, the man gave the newcomer- a strictly-dressed woman- a bow. "Ah, Goodwitch, aren't you? It's a pleasure." The bespectacled woman grimaced, staring down the criminal.  
"Roman Torchwick, you've infringed on the laws of Vale and as such are subject to arrest. By my authority as a huntress, I can guarantee your safe incarceration- but only if you submit peacefully." The man's smile broke, grimacing at the huntress's statement.  
"I never could stand you prim and proper types. Men like me wanna be free and you just can't take it." The deafening roar of a helicopter overtook the scene, drowning out any further words anyone could speak as its cargo-bay opened to reveal a young woman. Though nobody could hear him, the man continued to speak; mouthing the words: "And I always get what I want." He stepped back, hopping onto the helicopter as it began to peel away. Goodwitch, trying to stop the vehicle from leaving, glowed slightly as her aura and semblance activated- only for it to break a moment later. Her power wasn't enough to hold down the vehicle's powerful engines.

For a moment she fell to a knee, only to stand up a moment later and turn to Ruby. She studied the girl for a moment, before sighing. "Young lady, you're going to have to come with me."

* * *

Ruby sat alone in the brightly lit room for what felt like hours. A pitcher of water was sat in the centre of the steel table with glasses already poured out when she'd been led in by the strict-looking woman. Ruby couldn't help but sigh, thinking about how she'd be late getting back to the dorms. Signal Academy, while lax, didn't exactly look well on students being missing all night and Ruby was sure it'd end up being an incident on her record. The greatest fear was that it'd keep her from getting into The Beacon Hunter's Academy. If she couldn't… The girl's eyes shut tightly: she didn't want to think about what'd happen if she failed to get into her school of choice.

Opposite to her, the heavy steel door that kept the room locked gently swung open. Out from the opening walked Goodwitch and a man that Ruby thought looked familiar, though she didn't recognize him immediately. He turned to the woman who simply said: "This is her." He nodded and waved for the woman to leave the room. The man was strange-looking, with silver eyes and circular spectacles propped up on his nose. In his hand he held a cane, its tip tapping against the ground as he walked. As he sat, he began to speak; his soft voice echoing through the room as he regarded the girl before him:  
"So, young lady, what is your name?" Ruby blinked for a moment, looking back down at the table as she responded.  
"Ruby. Ruby Rose." The man nodded, smiling slightly.  
"Ah, Rose. It's been some time since I heard that name. It was, oh, fourteen years ago your mother passed? My condolences." Ruby frowned slightly, looking back towards the man.  
"Uh, thanks? How did you know about that?"  
"Well I was the man who taught her, after all." Ruby blinked, head cocked slightly. "Ah, I should introduce myself. My name is Ozpin, I'm the headmaster of The Beacon Hunter's Academy. It's a pleasure." He outstretches his hand as he said this and Ruby, as if on auto-pilot, shook it. "Now, with niceties out of the way, we need to discuss what exactly you were doing tonight. I assume you understand how it looks, consorting with criminals after dusk?" Ruby nodded, quickly speaking in her defence.  
"He was stealing stuff, I couldn't just sit back and do nothing."  
"And so you tried to intervene?" Ruby nodded again, looking up towards the headmaster.  
"Yeah. Someone had to do something and I was the only one there who could."  
"There weren't any others on the street. You could have just run away and gotten help. Why didn't you?"  
"I didn't know how much they'd taken or whether they would leave soon or not. I just kinda… reacted without thinking, you know?" Ozpin smiled, grasping the girl's thought process.  
"Alright, I believe you. Though I can't just release you, at least not at this hour." The man's head turned, looking at a watch that hung on his wrist. "That said, do you mind telling me who to contact?" Ruby frowned slightly, bitter thoughts coming to mind.  
"Uhm… You can call my uncle, Qrow. He's a teacher at si-" the headmaster's hand raised, making Ruby pause.  
"Qrow, right. Yes, I think I can contact him easily enough. I'll have Goodwich call him on my behalf. In the meantime, do you mind keeping me company?" Ruby blinked, slightly confused.  
"Uhm… Sure?"  
"Then let us talk."

The two continued to speak for some time, Ruby answering Ozpin's questions about her school life; explaining that she was in Vale to get dust for an exam and that she'd been taught almost exclusively by Qrow. All throughout, Ozpin only nodded and asked questions. When it came to the sorts of Grimm that Ruby had slain, he was most impressed to hear that she'd already progressed to handling small groups on her own. Something that he confirmed as he watched recovered CCTV footage of her skirmish against Torchwick's men. Towards the end, as Ozpin observed a message that appeared on his scroll, he simply smiled and beckoned Ruby to tell him about her goals:

"Well, uh, I wanna be a huntress!" Ozpin laughed slightly as he responded:  
"Alright. Why?"  
"I wanna help people, like those heroes in the stories uncle Qrow told me. I wanna protect people who need it and I wanna help the world!" Ozpin smiled, a wistful expression on his face. "I wanna be like the girl with the Silver Eyes, who fights to save the world!" The headmaster nodded, seemingly satisfied with something Ruby had said. As he did so, the door behind opened to reveal a sharply dressed man with a light beard.  
"Uncle Qrow!" Ruby's excited exclamation was met with the slightest of smiles on the man's face as he looked over the scene.  
"Ah, Oz, I hope Ruby hasn't been causing too much trouble?" The headmaster smiled, shaking his head slightly.  
"No, the young lady has been delightful to talk to. You've done a wonderful job, Qrow." Qrow frowned slightly at the praise; something the headmaster had said didn't sit well with him.  
"Yeah, I guess. I'm here to pick her up though, I assume everything's been squared away already?" Ozpin nodded before turning back towards Ruby.  
"In a moment. We were just finishing up our conversation. Now, where were we…"  
"Ah! You were asking why I wanna be a huntress?" The headmaster smiled, a soft expression spread across his face.  
"Of course. You want to be a huntress to help people, to be like the heroes in your stories, you said?" Ruby nodded enthusiastically. "Yes, that is as good of a motivation as one could possibly have. And, with your talents, I'm certain you would fit right in." Qrow stepped forward, placing a hand on the table.  
"Wait Oz, you're not saying-" The headmaster turned to look at the middle-aged man, smiling.  
"I am, Qrow." He turned back to the confused Ruby. "And I think she'll be happy to hear it too." Ruby was befuddled by the turn of events playing out in front of her, watching her uncle stare daggers at the older-looking man sitting across from her.  
"Uh, what's going on?" Qrow sighed, resigning himself to something as Ozpin simply smiled at Ruby.

"I, headmaster Ozpin, welcome your enrolment to Beacon Academy."


	2. Under the Moonlight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dialogue, communication between characters, and establishment of relationships.

“Holy shit Ruby, where’ve you been?” Almost as soon as Ruby had entered the dorms back at Signal her older half-sister, Yang, had started accosting her. “Tell me you talked to Uncle Qrow already, right? He’s been looking for you for hours!” Ruby looked away from her sister, sheepish.

“I, uh, already talked to him. He was the one who picked me up…” The younger sister trailed off, failing to make eye contact with Yang. “I actually kinda, uh, got arrested…” Yang’s eyes widened sharply, more concerned and confused than angry.

“Ruby!? What the hell did you do?!?” The black-haired girl gently scratched the back of her neck, searching for her words.

“Weeeeell, I got in the way of a dust robbery and a huntress arrested me, and then I talked to-” Yang put her hands up, forcing her younger sister to pause.

“Woah now, Ruby, you gotta slow down. Here, lemme get some tea.” Yang brought her sister over to the main lounge of their dorms, sitting Ruby down on one of the couches while Yang started a kettle. While late, it wouldn’t hurt to stay up for another hour or two to listen to Ruby’s story. Five minutes later, Yang returned with a filled teapot, pouring out its contents into small turquoise glasses. “Alright, so from the start, OK?” The younger sister nodded.

“OK. So we’ve got finals coming up, right? I had a project I needed to finish but didn’t have the dust I needed for it.” Yang nodded, sipping the piping hot beverage as she listened.

“So let me get this straight. You go to Vale-” Yang started, pausing to let her sister respond.

“Yep”

“You just happen to come across a robbery.”

“Mmhmm!”

“You then beat the crap out of the goons, only for them to run away while you’re fighting the boss.”

“Yeah!”

“And then, when you try to chase down said boss, a professor from Beacon tries to apprehend him, fails, then arrests you. Do I have that right?” Ruby nodded vigorously, a broad smile on her face. “OK, so what happened next?”

“Oh! Well, when I got to the police station I had to wait in this gray room until a white-haired guy come in. We chatted for a bit, then he told me his name was Ozpin.”

“Wait, you don’t mean-” At Yang’s response, Ruby just continued to nod even faster than before. “No way, you met the headmaster of Beacon? That’s a big deal, Ruby! What if it gets in the way of you enrolling?” Ruby’s smile simply broadened further, revealing the girl’s enthusiasm to tell the story.

“Well that’s the best part, Yang! He actually invited me to come there next year!” Yang blinked for a moment, not fully processing the situation.

“Wait, you don’t mean…”

“YEAH!” Ruby shouted, drawing a grimace from her sister, who was more concerned with keeping Ruby calm.

“Woah, chill, don’t need to yell. It’s late.”

“Oh! Sorry…” Yang waved away the apology, more focused on having Ruby explain further.

“It’s fine, just, keep talking.” Ruby nodded.

“OK, so he asked why I wanted to be a huntress and like, I explained that I wanna be like those heroes in stories right? He just smiled and nodded which was super weird but then he said I was perfect or something. Then Qrow came, he was there to pick me up, and that’s when Professor Ozpin told us that he wanted me to enrol at Beacon for next year!” Yang blinked in confusion for a moment, before transitioning to a wide grin.

“Holy crap Ruby! That’s amazing!” The two sisters were now equally excited, giddily bouncing around the lounge as they considered the possibilities. Ruby would be graduating two years ahead of schedule, and she’d be in the same year and Yang. Just the thought of it excited her and Yang couldn’t help but feel giddy about it. “Hey, maybe we’ll be roomies! Wouldn’t that be fun, Ruby?”

“Don’t get your hopes up too much.” The swinging of a door behind them cracked the happy atmosphere they’d built as their uncle entered the room. “Beacon has a pretty tough entrance trial. Just about anyone can get in based off grades as long as they’ve got no background issues, real issue is whether they’ll get past the entrance exam.” The girls blinked slowly as they watched their uncle sit down across from them, slowly pulling a flask out from his coat pocket. “Nobody’s gonna go easy on you just because you’re young, Ruby. I need you to understand that.” Ruby slowly lowered herself, easing back down onto the couch behind her.

“I understand, Uncle Qrow.” The older man smiled slightly as he raised the flask to his mouth, taking a sip before looking back to the girls.

“Good. That said, you’re still expected to go through finals.” Ruby froze up slightly at the mention of exams, like a deer caught in headlights. “Course, I’ll give you tomorrow off so you can get the dust you need before the robberies start. Yang, you get the same. Go with her, make sure Ruby stays out of trouble.” The yellow-haired girl perked up with a half-baked salute to couple her grin.

“Aye aye, Captain!” Qrow leaned back, eyes turning upwards to look at the ceiling for a moment before closing them.

“Now you two go off to bed, I’ll stay here and clean up the dishes.” The two girls nodded but, as Qrow heard their feet patter away, he called out one last time: “And don’t forget to study! I’m expecting over sixty-percent this time, Ruby!” The girl visibly jumped, scrambling away more swiftly than before as her uncle chuckled. The girl was excited, and he was for the most part happy for her.

Qrow’s eyes studied the ceiling, almost as if he was trying to wear through it with his gaze. While the girls’ night had ended, his was still young. Giving them the next day off was more for his own health than their projects; after all, he wasn’t as young as he used to be. That said, he still planned to make a few trips throughout the night. Standing up slowly, he checked his scroll. The message he’d sent earlier had been viewed, but no response. At this point it was expected, but the man still held out hope. It was the only lesson he’d ingrained into Ruby that had rubbed back off onto him.

He slipped the scroll back into his pocket, just adjacent to the whiskey-filled flask that he kept over his heart. A bad habit he’d picked up almost fourteen years ago, but it was a decent enough way to cope; a decent enough way to help him sleep at night. He walked back outside the dorm, looking around the empty school grounds for a moment. Signal wasn’t exactly the cream of the crop, being a small combat school on Patch, but it had a decent enough reputation to the various hunter schools across Remnant due to who taught there. Every single teacher was a hunter or huntress with some specialty when it came to Grimm, and there were few enough students that every teacher could directly mentor their students. It’d be a hard shift for Ruby.

Qrow walked down a moonlit path. It was close to midnight and the fragmented light of the moon was more than enough to illuminate his path. He pulled out his scroll again, checking the messages once more before sighing, frustrated. Earlier, before going to pick up Ruby, he’d messaged the girls’ father and it was only now, four hours later, that the man had responded. A simple “K” had been all there was in the message, and Qrow couldn’t help but vent the frustration he felt on a nearby tree before continuing on. He wanted to call the man, to yell at him over the night’s events, but it wasn’t worth it. There’d be lots of time once the semester was over and while the girls were getting ready to settle into Beacon.

Ahead of him was the end of the path. It had led Qrow to a cliff face, at the top of which sat a grave marker. A marker for a body that no longer existed. The man’s lips pursed slightly as he walked up to it, his eyes trailing down to the ground. “Hey Summer. Been a while.” He spoke to no-one; the words ringing out into the still night air. It was serene out here, always free from Grimm, but Qrow also hated visiting. It reminded him of too many things he wanted to keep buried. “Came to talk, you thirsty?” Qrow walked to the side of the stone, easing himself down and pulling out his flask. “No? Ah, you never were much of a drinker. That was always us.” He nodded to himself, slowly sipping the caramel-coloured liquid. “You know, your daughter is just about grown-up. She’s turning sixteen in October and Oz,” Qrow chuckled slightly as he spoke the name, “the bastard decided to enrol her to Beacon two years early! Can you believe that? Your daughter’s all grown up.” The man paused, shutting his eyes tight to hold back the wetness. “I did my best, just like you asked me to.” Qrow looked upwards, training his eyes onto the shattered moon that hung high in the sky. A surface cracked, chunks of its crust drifting just behind the planetoid as the mantle glowed red-hot beneath. “I…” Qrow choked something back, forcing his voice to continue working. “I think it’s time I go back out on the road. Step away from teaching and go back out on the hunt. She’s old enough, and Oz’ll be there to protect her when she needs it.” The man turned back towards the gravestone, looking at its reflective gray surface. “You’d be proud of her, Summer. I’m proud of her.” His eyes turned back upwards, back to studying the surface of the moon as tears trickled down the sides of his face.

*** * ***

Ruby looked around, confused. She was somewhere she couldn’t recognize, a dark forest surrounding her on all sides but one. Ahead, she could see the ruins of an old dilapidated cottage. She vaguely recognized the building, something about it seemed familiar to her though she couldn’t put her mind on it. Ruby watched it, studying the surface for anything that might spark her memory only for her focus to be broken by the squeaking of wheels behind her.

A little girl, yellow-haired, strode forward. She looked confident, with delicate byzantine irises poking through the dusting of bright blonde hair. She too felt familiar, though like with the cottage Ruby couldn’t put her finger on it. In the wagon was a small girl, wrapped in a red blanket. In a moment, her perspective shifted and suddenly she was in the wagon. Pulled forwards by her sister, the fever-dream became all too recognizable to Ruby. A young Yang was pulling the wagon forwards, marching ahead like nothing could possibly bother her as around them, crows had begun to gather. Ruby sniffled, scared, but the infant tried to keep herself from crying. Not out of some attempt at being strong, but rather, because of the instinctual fear that made her blood run cold. Something ahead was dangerous, _very_ dangerous, and Yang didn’t know. She burbled, trying to warn her sister, but the older girl just turned around and smiled back at her. Ruby was afraid. More afraid than she’d ever been.

The door of the cottage creaked slightly, drawing Yang’s attention back to it. A guttural chitter echoed out from it as thick, taloned fingers slowly snaked out. A single eye appeared in one of the windows, slender limbs pulling open the curtains to peer out. A moment later, laughter. Sickening laughter that made Ruby’s heart sink. The eye vanished from the window, with the door swinging open with a thunderous crack; hinges popping out with the screws flying in every direction. In the gloom of the poorly-lit interior, Ruby could see a horrific smile glint out from the darkness, two bright red orbs hanging just inches above as it opened to emit what almost sounded like a word. No, a name, _her_ name.

The monster called out Ruby’s name, screeching in an inhuman tongue as its monstrous form slithered out from the inky-black interior. The face laughed, too-familiar eyes staring down at Ruby as it approached. Yang simply collapsed to her knees, too afraid to even cry as the inhuman visage came closer. Fear clasped around Ruby’s heart, and she felt as though she would simply die from fright as the Grimm’s agonizingly familiar face studied them. A moment later, its hands were reaching out towards the two girls, elastic fingers moving to clasp around Yang’s neck. A pinch, and her sister’s head was left rolling around the ground. Ruby couldn’t even cry as she watched, staring into the lifeless eyes of the Grimm as the digits encircled her, pulling her into its murky-red bosom.

Her eyes snapped open, the nightmare over. Cold sweat coated her, soaking all Ruby’s clothes and bed. Rolling onto her side then righting herself, she placed her hand to her forehead. It was a dream that she was too familiar with. A dream that she’d been having for as long as she could remember. It always ended the same way, always with her being pulled into… She shook her head. She didn’t want to think about it; it wasn’t worth it right now. Uncle Qrow knew about it and had told her it was nothing to worry about, and she trusted him more than enough to take the advice.

Ruby quickly checked her alarm-clock, making sure she had enough time to clean things up before her exam. Six-oh-four, plenty of time. Today was the day of her exams, and then after that, she’d be sent off to start preparing for her next school year over at Beacon. The thought still hadn’t fully settled in for her and every time her mind wandered to it, she was left giggling. It was the next step in her dream of becoming a heroine that everyone could look up to, a heroine that could help save the world. As the thought passed through, her mind drifted back to the nightmare. It was always the same, without a single detail changing. It made her wonder if it, on some level, had actually happened. If she’d seen a Grimm with her sister when they were young. She’d never asked Qrow about it and wasn’t exactly in any rush to do so now that he was planning to head back out onto the road. Besides, it was time to show him how grown-up she was; that she could handle being on her own.

By seven Ruby was on her way out the door, but rather than heading towards the main building to meet with Qrow, who’d be conducting her exams, she headed off down a path heading to some cliffs in the North. Reaching the end of the path, Ruby’s eyes were greeted with an all-too-familiar scene. A simple gravestone sitting atop a cliff’s edge. Some flowers had been placed on the offering-stone, maybe from some of the other students, maybe from her sister. It didn’t really matter, Ruby was just happy that people came to pay respects still. She continued walking forwards, eventually coming to be right in front of the stone. Ruby knelt, placing her hand onto the stone as she studied its surface.

“Hey mom. It’s been a while.”


	3. Wasted Potential

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Character introductions, Ozpin gives a speech.

Engines firing partnered with the blaring horns of ships coming in to dock. People from all across the world had come; by plane, boat, car; or even on foot. All just to see the newest batch of students at The Beacon Hunter’s Academy. The numbers weren’t what bothered Ruby, however. It was the fact that people would be watching at all that made the girl skittish. All the students had arrived a few weeks early, settling into their temporary rooms before the actual examinations could take place. Vale and Beacon both had made something of a festival out of the yearly occasion, and every year at least a dozen students got cold feet and dropped out. Clenching her fists, Ruby steeled herself. She wouldn’t be one of them.

The school grounds were buzzing from the festivity; stalls staffed by students lining the roads in every direction, selling all sorts of goods. Everything from home-made toys and jewelry, to custom-made weapons and ammunition; created and used by the students themselves. Some of the faces Ruby even recognized as recent competitors in Vale tournaments, definitely people she’d like to talk to but probably didn’t want to bother.

Ruby turned back towards the main building, the exact one she was supposed to start heading to soon. It was still early in the morning, giving Ruby plenty of time to browse and fawn over the various goods, but she really couldn’t afford to be late for the headmaster’s opening speech. The girl wandered around the various stalls, looking over the various goods on display when she bumped into someone. Staggering back, she stammered out a hasty apology: “Ohh! I’m sorry!” Blinking slightly, the individual she’d inconvenienced shook his head a bit. A tallish blond man, probably close to being eighteen, was staring down at her.

“Oh, crap. Sorry, it was my fault.” He looked around for a moment as he paused, before continuing: “I really should have been paying more attention, there’s just so _much!._ ” Ruby giggled a bit, watching the man’s concerned expression. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, it’s no biggie. Oh, I’m Ruby, by the way.” The man nodded slightly, eyes still trained on Ruby’s face.

“Jaune, Jaune Arc.” Jaune gave an unsteady half-bow, narrowly keeping balance as Ruby couldn’t help but laugh.

“Are you sure you’re not the one who needs help?” Jaune blinked for a moment, only for his face to spread into a grin.

“Yeah, maybe I am the one who needs it. That said, you’re not a student are you?” Ruby shook her head.

“Nope! This is my first year too!” Jaune’s face turned to a slight frown.

“How’d you know?”

“Your balance sucks.” Jaune’s mouth opened to say something, closing a half-second later.

“Fair point.” The two laughed, walking as they continued to talk.

“So you look young. Like, really young. No offence or anything but you definitely don’t look like an adult.” Ruby nodded at Jaune’s observation, imbibing the words with a peaceful expression on her face.

“Well I am fifteen so-” Jaune stopped and, as Ruby turned to look at him, she was met with his shocked face.

“No way, you got into Beacon three years early?!”

“No, I turn sixteen in October. Only two years.” Ruby’s statement was accompanied by a slight shaking of her head, but that didn’t help dampen Jaune’s reaction.

“That’s still incredible! Are you some kind of genius or something?” Ruby looked away shyly, almost instinctively shrinking away from the praise.

“N-no… I just happened to get noticed is all.” She scratched the back of her head nervously, avoiding the young man’s gaze. “Look, I’m not anything special, OK?” As she said the words, her head turned back upwards to look back at the man. “Don’t make a big deal out of it, please?” Jaune gulped, nodding slightly.

While walking around the campus, they observed the various stalls and attractions together while chatting idly. Ruby talking about life back on Patch and Jaune responding with his own upbringing. It wasn’t what either would call engaging, but they enjoyed each other's presence enough that they’d just about lost track of time when Jaune checked his watch. “Ah, shit! We gotta get to the ceremony!” Ruby blinked in surprise but quickly followed after him as the two ran towards the central amphitheatre. Reaching it just seconds early, they soon found their respective seats and settled in, just as one of the professors got on stage.

“Good morning, everyone.” The woman’s cantor was recognizable to Ruby, even though it’d been a few months since the incident in Vale. Dressed strictly as always, Professor Goodwitch gently pushed up her glasses before continuing. “The headmaster will come speak to you in just a moment, however before that, I will speak a few words on behalf of the teachers at this institution. I will, of course, endeavour to be brief.” She paused, looking over the crowd of young adults, before continuing: “In the past century of this institution’s operations, we have ever and always sought to produce only the finest huntsmen to grace the world of Remnant. To this end, our training and entrance regulations are strict and difficult. The coming exams will be difficult and if you’re not prepared, you will die. This is your final chance to leave.” She waited again, this time as several would-be students stood up and walked out. She nodded slightly, closing her eyes as if she were thinking about something. After a few minutes they opened once more, and she observed the now emptier room. “Good. Without further adieu, your headmaster would like a word.”

As she stepped back, there was an audible sigh of relief that passed over much of the hall. The tension sapped away almost as soon as it’d been built up; every student thinking that it was just bluster from the woman, designed to make people who weren’t sure just drop out before resources could be wasted. Ruby, however, caught the underlying threat and to her, it was all too real. Qrow had warned her and, like her sister just two rows down from herself, she’d come armed to the teeth.

Out from one of the halls leading into the room stepped a tall, white-haired man. He was dressed sharply in a green suit and small, circular glasses sat atop his nose. Professor Ozpin quickly strode forwards, stepping up onto the stage and taking his place in front of the microphone. He stopped just before speaking, observing the crowd as he did so. “Good morning, students. I am Professor Ozpin, the headmaster of this institution. Time is, of course, limited today and as such I’ll keep this brief. You all have travelled here in search of knowledge and skills; the tools you need to hone your craft. Once you have finished, many of you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of others. Some are, of course, only in it for themselves. Regardless, when I look amongst you, all I see is wasted potential. Energy squandered, and in desperate need of purpose, of direction. Knowledge itself will not abate this, no. At this institution, you will learn that knowledge is but the first step towards survival in this world. You will learn that it can only carry you so far. And it is up to you, dear students, to move forward.” He observed the crowd’s reaction to his words, waiting patiently for the murmuring to die down. Smiling slightly, he continued: “Next I will have Professor Goodwitch explain the examination process. Professor?” He stepped back, surrendering the mic to Goodwitch.

“Yes, Headmaster. Your exams will be in two stages: one written and the other physical. You will then be grouped up into teams based on your joint combat effectiveness. I assume that this is all clear? If so, then we are dismissed.” The two professors nodded, leaving the stage together.

As soon as they’d left, the room burst into discussion. People seeming to fall unconsciously into groups as they chattered. Jaune and Ruby met up almost immediately and started talking: “Oh that was so cool! Way different from before.” Jaune looked at Ruby skeptically, confused by what the girl specifically meant.

“From… Before? You’ve met him?” Ruby nodded but before she could explain, Yang’s fiery yellow head popped in to rest on the younger sister’s.

“Oh yeah, Ruby here met the headmaster in a police station!” Ruby froze up, shocked by Yang’s interruption. “I’m Yang, by the way. Ruby’s older sister.” A single hand extended from Ruby’s right, shaking Jaune’s. The two chatted boisterously as Ruby stood beneath her sister, growing more flustered as the topics shifted towards her.

“ANYWAYS, could we not talk about me as a kid _PLEASE?!?_ ” Ruby’s exclamations caused Yang to stop, laughing happily at the younger sister’s embarrassment.

“Ah, it’s OK Ruby, I know what it’s like. Grew up with a bunch of sisters too.” Jaune tried to comfort Ruby, but it didn’t help. It was only when another person inserted themselves in that the awkward atmosphere departed.

“So, uh, hey. You guys are yelling a lot, you know what’s going on?” The group paused, looking towards the newcomer. A well-dressed girl, clad entirely in white with piercing blue eyes stared back at the trio.

“Oh, yeah! We gotta go-” Ruby quickly broke away from Yang and started chattering to the newcomer, only for the other girl’s exasperation to steadily grow.

“Listen, I don’t need the whole spiel from you. Just tell me what they meant by ‘grouped up into teams’, alright?” Behind Ruby, Yang nodded; taking the reigns of the conversation:

“Yeah, so after the exams are over they’re gonna stick us in groups with people.”

“So it could just be at random, with people we don’t know?” Yang nodded in response. “Crap… I should probably talk to as many people as I can then…”

“Then why not start with us? I’m Yang, this is my sister, Ruby.” Yang introduced the two of them to the starkly-dressed girl, evoking a slight nod from her.

“I’m Weiss. You said you two are sisters?” Yang nodded. “So why do you look so… different? Faunus?”

“No, different mothers. Ruby’s two years younger than me but got skipped ahead.” The girl, Weiss, nodded as if she was impressed. “Well, I’m sure she must be quite intelligent then.” The two girls looked at Weiss for a moment, before simply bursting out into laughter. She looked at the sisters confused, wondering if something she’d said was funny but before she could ask another question Yang cut her off.

“Oh no, she’s not smart-” A small ‘hey’ was uttered in protest by an embarrassed Ruby, but Yang just continued on. “She’s a good fighter though.” Weiss nodded slowly.

“Okaaay then. Uhm, alright. Well, I’m gonna go talk to other people then. Have fun talking about… Whatever.” The girl hurriedly walked away but, as the sisters watched her do so, they caught another girl staring daggers her way. Ruby briefly considered calling out to her but decided against it; there’d been enough embarrassment for the day.

Shrugging slightly, Jaune looked around as well. People had started naturally congregating into semi-groups, however, he quickly noticed another person standing out alone. Speaking a quick farewell to the confused sisters, he ran over to the person and hastily introduced himself: “H-hey, I’m Jaune. You are?” The person turned sharply, quickly looking over the flustered man.

“Pyrrha. Do I… Know you?” Jaune laughed slightly at her reaction.

“We talked on the plane. I was sat right beside you?” The lightbulb went off, and Pyrrha immediately remembered.

“Right! That’s where it was. We never introduced ourselves, did we?” Jaune nodded.

“Nope! Figured I’d do it now. Me and some friends I made were talking over there, wanna come?” The girl, Pyrrha, smiled slightly.

“Sure. I’m always up for meeting new people.”

The group reconvened, with Jaune introducing Pyrrha to Ruby and Yang. They continued chattering, even as the intercom started up: instructing the students to head towards the first of the examination halls. They were enjoying themselves, Pyrrha talking about the tournaments she’d won and explained her specific fighting style to the star-struck Ruby, who recognized the somewhat famous girl almost immediately. It wasn’t long, however, before they reached the first exam room.

The first exam was absolute hell for Ruby. Half the questions she barely understood, going over things she didn’t quite know about or just only had scraps of knowledge on. When she’d taken a moment to sneak looks around the room, it looked like just about everyone was in the same position, leaving her some modicum of confidence with the answers she did know.

Once finished the students were ferried into another room, sort of a lunch space, where they were allowed to talk amongst each other and eat. Looking around the room, Ruby quickly located Yang chattering up some other students. She briefly considered going up to her, but decided against it and instead wandered over around the room. Ultimately, however, she ended up in the corner beside a girl dressed totally in black. As much as Ruby wanted to find and chat with Jaune and Pyrrha again, both were occupied with another pair and it all ended up leaving Ruby feeling somewhat left out.

She turned to look at her companion-in-loneliness, a standoffish-looking girl in a black and white dress; black ribbon adorning her head and a glossy fur-like accessory wrapped around her right leg. Ruby’s head cocked slightly, studying the older girl while she continued staring into the room. Ruby recognized her as the one who’d been staring so intently at Weiss earlier, however, now the woman’s attention was more evenly distributed. For a second her eyes flicked over to Ruby, and the girl spoke: “What do you want?” Ruby paused, surprised by the girl’s tone.

“Uhm… What are you so angry about?” The girl’s eyes closed as she sighed; annoyed by something Ruby had said.

“Just go away, I don’t want to talk to you.” Ruby frowned but decided to press her.

“Um, I’m Ruby. What’s your name?” The girl’s ribbon rustled slightly, just enough that Ruby noticed but dismissed it as a draft.

“Blake.” Blake looked away from Ruby again, refocusing her attention on the room. For a moment her nostrils flared, as if something was bothering her. “Hey, do you smell something?” Ruby’s eyebrow cocked upwards for a moment.

“No? Is something up?” A second later, she suddenly felt very, very drowsy. It came over her quickly and couldn’t help but yawn. Looking back towards Blake, she noticed the girl had already slumped to the floor. As Ruby herself began to doze off, she looked around the room to see everyone else do the same.

Behind a tinted window stood Ozpin, who simply nodded towards the huntsmen around him. “Begin the exam.”


	4. Forest of Death (1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> first of two parts.  
> The cast awakens in a Grimm-infested forest, with survival dubious.

Ruby’s eyes opened slowly and she groggily sat herself up. Looking around, she found herself in an unknown location and, for a moment, she wondered if she’d just fallen asleep and ended up in that all-too-familiar nightmare. Looking around she saw no cottage, no darkness hiding just within the trees. A gentle breeze blew past her cheek and on it was a slightly sweet scent. The scenery was peaceful, however, Ruby felt as though something was off. Last she remembered, they’d all been in a lunchroom. She’d been talking to that Blake girl and- the thought clicked into place.

She looked around panicked, trying to figure out if anyone was nearby. Wherever they were, it was certain to be dangerous. This was, after all, the combat segment of the exam. Her instincts ran on high-alert, neurons stretched taut by the once serene atmosphere that now seemed so tense. Ruby closed her eyes, listening closely to anything in the area after initiating her aura. Near to her, she could hear the rustling of birds as they chirped; a sign she was safe for the moment however further away she could hear the clashing of steel and scratching of claws against the dirt. Coming from two opposite directions, the sounds of battle were gradually moving away whilst the scratching only grew closer as she listened. Something was coming.

Ruby moved quickly, leaping up into a tree and drawing Crescent Rose in its carbine configuration. Were the barrel to be extended to its full length, it’d hamper the effectiveness in close-quarters combat meaning the last thing she wanted was to have it as a sniper rifle. It’d be accurate enough for these ranges. Her eyes flitted about the outskirts of the clearing she’d awoken in, waiting patiently for whatever would come. She was, however, pleasantly surprised when it was just a normal bear that had padded its way into the clearing rather than a Grimm. Its snout raised upwards for a moment, sniffing the area, then moving on. Ruby sighed softly, letting the tension ease out of her shoulders. Qrow had taught her to always be on guard when in the wilderness; a lesson she’d taken fully to heart.

She leapt down from the tree, scanning the clearing one more time before she started making her way into the brush. Smaller battles had started cropping up with increasing frequency, and Ruby fully intended on locating whoever was out there. There was, after all, safety in numbers when fighting Grimm.

Her feet moved quickly, with Ruby able to deftly navigate through the knotted undergrowth of the forest floor. Jutting roots couldn’t stop her, however, she paused for a moment when she heard a girl cry out. It wasn’t far off, and Ruby immediately sprinted off in the direction of it. She swore that she recognized the voice, but couldn’t immediately place it. As she neared the clearing, Ruby switched her weapon to being a scythe and burst through the foliage to decapitate a wolf-like Grimm just as it was about to snap down onto its victim’s shoulder. Spinning in the cut, Ruby rotated another forty-five degrees before landing and taking a quick step back away from the swiping claws of another Grimm. Behind her, the girl she’d come to help still fought furiously; her rapier piercing through the tough hide of Grimm; though it seemed not to fare well against larger targets. Ruby on the other hand was stuck resorting to martial arts to handle the smaller enemies that kept assaulting her. Neither was facing an ideal match and both seemed to pick up on this as the white-haired girl called out: “Switch!” Ruby nodded, firing a single high-power shot from the shaft’s tip that propelled her backwards as Weiss took her place in the line.

Weiss hadn’t expected this turn of events. Though she’d been told a bit about Beacon, she had no idea they’d be gassed and thrown into the wilderness as part of their entrance examinations. Weiss was also sure that all this was being viewed by the people visiting Beacon now. They were dancing on strings for entertainment and Weiss hated every second of it. The black-haired girl who’d come to help her though seemed to be having fun as her oversized weapon cleaved through the bodies of large Grimm like they were nothing. She frowned, trying to remember the girl’s name, only for it to slip a second later. “Whatever.” She spat the words out as she placed a well-timed thrust into the eye of a Grimm, causing its form to shatter like glass as the dust did its work. The heiress to the Schnee company would get through this day, no matter what.

The two worked together surprisingly well, for having met each other only that day. Both called out commands, making sure the other was notified of the situation. Ruby cleft through large enemies while Weiss kept smaller ones at bay. Even so, however, they were steadily being overrun. Ruby turned back to Weiss, yelling: “There’s too many!” Weiss frowned, grinding her teeth slightly. There was no point in arguing so instead she gave a quick “OK!” as her response. It was all Ruby needed, as she turned on a dime and booked it- cleaving a wide hole through the enemy lines as she ran. Weiss followed after, keeping pace with the younger girl as they continued barking out information.

“How many shots do you have?” Ruby looked down as she ran, feeling for her munitions pouches.

“Thirty, but twenty of them won’t work unless I can prep!” Weiss shook her head in frustration.

“You have bullets you can’t use?! What the hell is wrong with you?” Ruby looked away from her, embarrassed.

“It’s not what you’re thinking, it’s just- wait!” Weiss followed Ruby’s eyes with her own, looking at the same object the younger girl was. A massive cliff face lay before them, a natural funnel that they’d run straight into. They were trapped, or so Ruby thought. Clenching her teeth, Weiss pushed her semblance to activate and soon, glyphs began appearing; running up the side of the cliff.

“Come on, use them as footholds!”

“Weiss you’re a genius!” Weiss frowned at the praise, more concerned with surviving than receiving compliments. Even so, she led the way.

Their boots slammed against the white-coloured glyphs that Weiss had conjured, sparks of bright light flashing wherever their feet fell. Working as Weiss said, they quickly scaled the cliff face as the Grimm started congregating below. As they climbed, running up the side of the cliff, Weiss called out: “Don’t stop running! They’ll climb after but we can defend the top!” Ruby nodded towards Weiss.

“Roger!”

As the two reached the top, Ruby quickly switched her weapon’s configuration again, back to carbine. Popping over the cliff’s edge, she started shooting each of the approaching Grimm in quick succession until she’d run out of ammo but, by then, they’d given up on climbing. Ruby stood back up, brushing the dirt and grass off her clothes as her eyes turned back towards Weiss. They stared for a moment but, as the tension evaporated, so too did the strength in their legs. Both girls simply collapsed to their knees, laughing slightly at how they’d evaded death.

“Wow you’re an idiot.” Weiss was the first to speak up, her nervous laughter having quickly fallen away to seriousness. “Didn’t they ever tell you not to jump into fights you can’t win?” Ruby’s own laughter had now faded, replaced with a slightly annoyed expression.

“They also told me not to just leave people to die.” Weiss paused for a moment, considering the retort.

“I would have been fine, I have my semblance.” Ruby’s finger raised to point at Weiss in an accusatory fashion:

“When I got there you were about to be overrun.” The both of them fell silent after that, Weiss looking downwards towards her trembling knees. As much as she hated to admit it, the younger girl was right. Ruby seemed to pick up on this and tried to steer the conversation a bit. “But uh, anyways, you’re Weiss, right? We talked after the Headmaster’s speech.” Weiss nodded slowly, looking back towards Ruby.

“Yeah. What’s your name again?” Ruby cocked her head slightly. Weiss was relieved to see that the girl didn’t seem to take it personally.

“Ruby.” Weiss smiled slightly.

“Well, Ruby. Thanks.” Ruby simply smiled back. They heard a noise in the distance and the two girls immediately hopped back to their feet. “We need to keep moving,” Weiss said, now focused entirely on her surroundings. They couldn’t afford to sit in one place while in hostile territory. It didn’t help either that Weiss had the sinking feeling she knew where they’d been dumped.

*** * ***

Were it not for the sounds of battle, the forest would have been dead silent. Birds cowed in their roosts and the various docile fauna of the forest ran for their lives. Yang, however, defied the stampede of creatures that sprinted past, instead moving towards the source of their terror. A Grimm, no doubt large and violent, was forty metres ahead of her and she was sure that it’d be a quick kill. Moving quickly, Yang leapt up against a tree; pushing off the rough surface using her left foot. Using the acceleration, she caught the Ursus off-guard and her fist connected- bones pulverized under the weight of her blow. Thanks to her aura she felt no pain, though her attack hurt herself as much as her targets. Every strike was a double-edged sword.

The Ursus reeled back in pain, only to recover a second later. It was large and heavy, every strike it attempted heavily choreographed; easy to avoid. She dipped under then spun past the monster’s right paw to land another strike: this time into its abdomen. Another hit, then a third and it was down; its body collapsing backwards and falling still as it connected against the ground. Wildlife would avoid the area for a while, at least until the body deteriorated away enough that it no longer terrified them. Until then this place would be devoid of any conscious life. Even insects avoided the corpses of the Grimm, though Yang didn’t quite know why.

What would come, however, was the pack of smaller Grimm that quickly came upon her location. Not one to disengage from a win-able fight, Yang held her ground and fought as the numbers increased; each strike more powerful than the last. Soon each of the small wolf-like Grimm was being atomized. Nonetheless, she was still being pushed back and there was little Yang could do about it. More kept coming, more filling the pockets that appeared in her defence. She’d be overrun at this rate.

A second after the thought passed through her mind, a spray of small-calibre munitions scattered the clearing. Out from the underbrush ran a black-haired girl, her white-black dress fluttering as she fired precisely upon the various small Grimm in the field. Behind her chased yet another Ursus; a target that Yang immediately sprung to intercept.

They wasted no time with introductions as the two battle-hardened girls fell into the rhythm of war. Yang struck down the massive Ursus that’d been chasing the black-haired girl whilst her counterpart quickly set about handling the smaller enemies with her pistol and shortsword. She dipped and wove, deftly avoiding the strikes coming in from her opponents and countering with carefully calculated strikes. To Yang, it was like observing an assassin work with perfect focus on the task at hand, allowing nothing to interfere. Of course, that wouldn’t stop her from helping. Yang used her gauntlets- weapons that contained short-barrel shotguns- to provide support from a distance after she’d dispatched the Ursus. After only a minute of working together, they’d finished off the horde.

Breathing heavily, Yang approached the assassin-like girl. “Hey, thanks for the help!” She tried to greet the black-haired girl cordially but just received a “Hmph” in return. More annoyed now, Yang pressed her. “Hmph? Come on, I’m trying to thank you and all you say is ‘hmph’? What gives?” Something rustled in the brush, and instantly the two were on high alert.

“You can thank me when we’re out of here” Yang nodded.

“Agreed.”

* * *

Jaune had united with Pyrrha at the same time that the other two he'd met earlier did. Named Ren and Nora, they formed an interesting pair that were at the very least entertaining. Between her delightful upbeat attitude and his cool, calm demeanour, Jaune felt comfortable working with them- despite his other misgivings. He'd found the three while they'd been dealing with a massive lithoid Grimm, entering the clearing as they were finishing up. The three had seemed pleased to see him, if a little apprehensive. 

Soon they were moving, having received a message on their scrolls instructing them as to where they should move next. The message had appeared as soon as they'd formed into a group of four; both Jaune and Pyrrha picked up on this. It directed them to move towards some ruins to the south, located in a cave system. There they'd find copious amounts of Grimm but, more importantly, an object that they had to recover. Succeed and their exam is done. Simple, right?

Jaune didn't think so. Nobody did, for after they'd received the message Pyrrha had been left uncharacteristically quiet. "Ruins in a forest? I've heard that one before..." The rest of the group looked towards her as she thought, wondering what the issue was.

"Uhh, Pyrrha? What's the matter?" Jaune was the first to speak, shaking Pyrrha out of her mind.

"Oh, yeah. We should probably get moving." The three others looked amongst each other, confused.

"It sounds like there's something on your mind, can you tell us?" Ren spoke calmly, cooly trying to coax the idea out of Pyrrha.

"No, it's nothing. We're fine." A hint of concern flashed through the red-haired girl's voice, setting Jaune off. He placed a hand on her shoulder, trying to comfort the woman.

"Pyrrha, it's OK. Just tell us." She gulped, trying to suppress whatever she was feeling before speaking:

"I know where we are, Jaune. We're in the Emerald Forest."

The words hung heavy in the air, with not a word spoken between them as they moved. They all knew what the Emerald Forest was: a Grimm-infested territory a few hundred kilometres out from Vale. It meant that they were on their own; that they would get no help; that they could'nt even escape. They would either succeed in the exam or be consumed by the evils that haunted the forest. For each, the thought made their blood run cold.


	5. Forest of Death (2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team assembles, fights a monster, teamwork.

Ruby dipped beneath the massive paws of a Grimm, narrowly avoiding its blow as her knees scratched against the stony soil. She could feel blood seeping out, splashing against the earth as she recovered; bringing the scythe up in a crescent motion and bisecting the monster in a single movement. “Weiss!” She called out, searching for an answer from her companion who was herself dealing with the monster’s smaller reinforcements.

“Tch- a little busy here!” The response was calming to Ruby, despite its curtness. If she had the energy to waste on talking, it meant that the battle was still moving in their favour. Another swipe from the cumbersome monster and Ruby dodged- this time lodging the blade of her scythe in the back of the monster and dragging it down to its knees. Switching stance, she kicked the beowolf thrice; its neck snapped by the third blow as her leg came down with horrific force. Had Ruby’s aura been weakened, her attack would have probably broken her own leg.

Yet still the battle raged, the two girls trading blows with the inhuman horrors that threatened them. They were holding the line, however, it was only a matter of time. At this rate, they’d be overrun. Ruby took a spare moment to look back towards Weiss as she dodged away from a lupine Grimm’s jaws. The older girl was using her semblance, the glyphs, to move around rapidly through the battlefield; always one step ahead of her opponents and it gave Ruby an idea, though without any way to use it at the moment.

The horde they were facing was the same one that they’d tried to shake off by scaling the cliff. Apparently, there’d been another path for the Grimm to move through as they followed the two girls’ scent. On one hand, it was exciting to Ruby; she’d slain smaller Grimm in the dozens and a handful of larger ones but because Patch was so safe, there was little chance of coming across truly dangerous breeds. On the other hand, however, the tail-end of that same thought terrified Ruby. She could work off what Qrow had taught her but she had little to no practical experience actually fighting hordes like this. It was all she could to maintain the faux confidence she held in battle. It left Ruby awe-struck how Weiss managed to maintain her cool despite the horde’s ever-intensifying push.

Ruby cut down another large Grimm, severing its head from the body in one clean motion while trying to pull her head out of her thoughts. The battle still raged and without support, they’d almost certainly be overrun within minutes.

*** * ***

The forest around Yang was alive with the roar of battle. Since finding Blake she’d been dragging the antisocial girl around, searching for the various sources. A hundred or so metres away, she could hear what sounded like noise reverberating out from a cave but in the other direction, she could just faintly hear the grunting of two girls. Turning towards Blake, Yang called out a sharp “Come on!” before sprinting in the direction of the cacophony; hoping it was Ruby, and hoping that she’d be in time.

*** * ***

Ruby was mid-strike when she noticed the two forms bursting out from the tree line. Two shadows, one yellow and one black- enough information for Ruby to know they weren’t more Grimm, letting her return her attention back to the battle at hand. It was only when she heard someone call out her name, that Ruby turned her attention towards the newcomers: Yang and Blake. She started smiling for a moment, only to instead spin to intercept and parry the paws of an Ursus. There wasn’t time for pleasantries on the battlefield.

Yang moved quickly, filling in one of the holes in the formation and setting to work annihilating the smaller creatures as they tried to speed past. Canine, lupine and leporine, all were crushed by Yang’s strikes like they were nothing. Out of the corner of her eyes, she could see Ruby and Weiss both struggling while Blake had found her own place in the formation, supporting where necessary with her pistol. They all had their niche to some extent, however even with this change it was clear that they needed a new strategy.

“Yang! Switch!” The call came from Ruby, who moved quickly to change position with her older sister. In the same breath, however, Ruby called out to Blake: “Blake, take Yang’s position! I need a minute!” The girls were all confused, but did as Ruby requested; Yang’s fists crushing the larger foes’ bones and Blake deftly holding back the smaller critters. Ruby hopped back, falling to a knee as she lay Crescent Rose down on the ground while opening up a pouch on her waist. Out from it she pulled out several parts and started de-constructing her weapon in the midst of battle. Noticing mid-process, Weiss turned back to shout at Ruby;

“What the hell are you doing!? Now’s not the time for maintenance!”

“I know! I just need twenty seconds!” Ruby shouted back, trying her hardest to work as the other three girls fought ferociously. Soon though, Ruby had screwed the side-plate of the firearm back on and stowed away the tools and parts. Moving as swiftly as she could, she climbed a tree and peered through the scope. The battlefield was a mess, but a manageable one now. Rotating a dial to “20”, she aimed carefully and placed her shot.

The sound of the weapon was agonizing, loud enough that it deafened Ruby for a moment; just long enough that she wouldn’t hear the following blast. The shell erupted as it struck a Grimm, blowing the target apart and shredding everything around it as small steel bearings tore through the flesh of small monsters. The weapon was effective, doubly so as Ruby silently ticked the dial up to “23” and placed another shot.

The storm of explosions was a welcome relief to the girls below, even if every shot made their ears ring. The blasts were thinning out the horde and making it more than manageable for the three of them now. Yang raised her arm, absorbing another blow from the Ursus in front of her before countering; striking it between the ribs, pulverizing its internal organs before kicking it away to inconvenience someone else with its girth. Blake on the other hand visibly flinched every time Ruby took a shot. Once when the trigger was pulled and a second time when the projectile found its target. The bow on her head also fluttered slightly, as if recoiling from the shots at the same time as its owner did. Yang couldn’t help but smile at noticing this.

Another minute and seven shots later, the horde of Grimm had thinned to the point where Ruby rejoined the fray. The danger which necessitated the extreme measures had passed and now there was just clean-up. Crushing, stabbing, stomping and shooting; one after another the remaining Grimm were annihilated. It was, however, only after they’d slain the last one that the four girls took a moment to catch their breath.

*** * ***

Pyrrha moved quickly, parrying away the powerful stinger of the scorpion-like Grimm, a Death Stalker. The teachers had no doubt sent them here knowing it was in the area, meaning that slaying the monster and claiming whatever it guarded was their task. Something Pyrrha could do on her own but, as she dodged away to let Nora strike the stinger, she was happy to have help. The stinger was embedded into the ground; the threat was not quite neutralized, however, as instead of letting the group continue attacking while it was immobilized, its claw clasped around the stinger to snip it off and free itself.

Jaune watched this happen, mind racing. The Grimm had little in the way of self-preservation, being more than willing to maim itself just to continue fighting. He had to wonder if they were all like this, or if this was abnormal. The worried glance from Pyrrha told him the latter was more likely. Pursing his lips, Jaune tried to think of a solution. “Pyrrha!” He called out, already moving.

“Yeah?” he had the girl’s attention. Good.

“What dust do you have?” The girl blinked, confused.

“Uhm, fire and lightning, why?” There was an excited noise from off to the side.

“Lightning!? Gimme!” Nora excitedly pushed herself into the conversation while Ren held the massive monster’s attention. Grabbing the bag that Pyrrha handed to her, the pink-haired girl dumped the entire thing onto herself, the electricity coursing through her body. Jaune would have been worried, had she not explained her semblance before. Electrical absorption.

The three of them turned back to the fight as a crashing noise struck, the claws of the Death Stalker goring through the walls of the cave, making the entire structure shudder. They had to move quickly. Jaune turned back towards the two women, talking quickly. “Nora, use your power to crack its shell. Once there’s a chink, Pyrrha, you need to move in and exploit it.” The two nodded, Nora running off back into the fight. Pyrrha followed slowly, turning back towards Jaune as she did so.

“Good thinking there.” The compliment left him somewhat confused and he watched in a daze as the thick shell of the Grimm shattered under Nora’s hammer, with Pyrrha exploiting the weakness a split-second later, slaying it in a single fell swoop.

*** * ***

So, nice end-of-year project there Ruby!” Yang was the first to speak up after the battle, excitedly patting her half-sister’s shoulder. “Remodelled Crescent Rose to shoot grenades? Gnarly.” The younger girl looked away, embarrassed by the attention.

“It wasn’t anything big…” Yang laughed, ignoring Ruby’s self-deprecation.

“Nah sis, you thought quickly and came up with a solution. Good thinking, by the way. Just tell us next time, OK?” The yellow-haired girl smiled broadly as Ruby’s attention moved away from her sister, and to the buzzing scroll in her pocket. Pulling out the tablet, she read the message that it’d received:

\- BEACON FACULTY-

“GOOD JOB ON FORMING A GROUP.”

“YOU FOUR WILL NOW BE ASSIGNED YOUR EXAM TASK.”

“MOVE 2KM TO THE NORTH-EAST.”

”THERE YOU WILL FIND RUINS.”

“YOUR OBJECTIVE WILL BE TO ELIMINATE ANY AND ALL HOSTILES”

“FURTHERMORE, YOU MUST FIND AND RETRIEVE AN OBJECT INSIDE.”

“YOU HAVE BEEN ASSIGNED: QUEEN, WHITE.”

“MAKE HASTE, YOU HAVE 12 HOURS.”

Looking around and exchanging information, the girls all realized they’d received the same message. A joint operation; a team exercise as their entrance exam. Ruby’s excitement could hardly be contained at this revelation and soon, the group had started off towards their objective. Looking up, the sun was nearing the end of its path across the sky. An indication that it was late afternoon, early evening. Their operation would probably be over by sunrise the following morning, around six ‘o clock, meaning that it was likely almost six-pm. They’d have to move quickly, as being out in a Grimm-infested morning overnight would be near suicidal. They’d be better off holed up in some ruins and then, they could also get their exam out of the way. A win-win scenario that’d left everyone satisfied as they began hurriedly walking North-East.

They found more groups of smaller Grimm, however, not a single fight left them in serious danger. The groups they were encountering were small and quickly dealt with and soon enough, they found themselves at the desiccated structure they’d been sent to clear out: an old, abandoned temple. Marble pillars were overrun by flora, the once-smooth stone now pocked and ravaged by the claws of Grimm who’d used them as whetstones. Symbols and iconography that’d once decorated the walls were now scratched out, the only artwork left being the savagery of Grimm placed on display. Vines crept and crawled across the entire building, plants having found any place they could to snake their way through. Looking around, the girls realized that they were at the centre of what had once, long ago, been a city of some kind. The remnants of a fountain, its stone basins now pulverized into sand and across the overgrown plaza sat what looked like the burnt-out husk of a mansion. Looking at it made Ruby recoil somewhat, however, she quickly regained her composure and returned her focus to the task at hand.

The interior of the temple was mostly empty, with the only evidence of its past purpose being the massive brass basin in the centre of the room and the large relief that decorated the side walls. At the back, there looked to be an opening that led into a passage of sorts, one that Blake set out to guard while the other three girls made sure the temple’s cella was clear. Looking over the walls, Yang couldn’t help but whistle slightly in amazement. “Man, there’s some weird stuff here…” Turning their heads, Weiss and Ruby both walked over to where Yang was standing and regarded the mural.

“Well it’s certainly… Strange.” Weiss’ comment drew only nods from the other two girls as they looked over the carving. It depicted a group of four girls, all with a different symbol carved onto their forms, walking through a large maze. “Look here-” Weiss pointed at one area, showing a close-up view of the girls, as well as the symbols. Pointing at the first of the four girls, she started speaking: “This one is quicksilver, though we call it mercury now. The next is… Iron? No, sulphur. After that it’s… Oh! That’s gold and the last is lead. Huh.” Weiss’ fingers traced along the carvings, looking over them one after another while Ruby spoke up.

“Wow, you seem to know a lot about this Weiss!” The older girl nodded before speaking, still focused on the engraving.

“In Atlas we’re taught a lot of ancient history, especially stuff about science and medicine. Those symbols-” Weiss’ eyes turned back towards the carving of the four girls, “- they’re alchemical. Those four elements were what people thousands of years ago thought would make a philosopher’s stone, which was a magical object that could grant and fulfil wishes. Though the concept evolved a bit over time to…” The older girl trailed off, looking at the end-point of the mural. The four girls standing triumphant over the body of a monster.

“Uh, Weiss? Wanna keep going?” Yang stepped in, grabbing Weiss’ attention and pulling it back towards their conversation.

“Oh, uh, yeah.” She turned towards the other two girls briefly, before looking towards the carvings once again. “They evolved into the ideas of rubedo, albedo, nigredo and citrinitas. Quicksilver became rubedo, platinum became albedo, lead became nigredo and gold became citrinitas.” Yang’s own eyes turned towards the mural, blinking for a moment.

“Damn that’s weird. Red, white, black and yell… ow…” She looked down at herself for a moment, having seemingly realized something. “Wait, is it talking about us?” Ruby butted in, stopping Weiss from responding.

“No way, it’s gotta just be a coincidence. I mean, these are how old? No way is it about us!” Ruby tried to push out some laughter with her words but it felt hollow. They all had to admit that the coincidence was uncanny. The trio’s eyes turned back towards the mural, observing the end-point.

“Well, we better hope that we’re not fighting a minotaur at the end of this.” At Weiss’ words, the other two nodded. There was no way it was anything more than a coincidence, at least that’s how Ruby felt.

They moved deeper into the temple, trying to push the mural and its contents out of their minds. Blake watching the rear as Weiss and Yang focused on the front. Being ill-suited to such claustrophobic conditions, all Ruby could really do was stand in the middle and wait to see if either side of the formation needed help should combat occur. Her weapon was too large in scythe configuration to swing in the small tunnels, and the rifle configuration would make everyone’s ears bleed from the noise. She felt genuinely useless but even so, the group trekked onwards.

They moved together throughout the temple and its winding halls, clearing out several compact rooms and slaughtering the few smaller Grimm they found throughout its interior. It was only once they reached a crypt that they found themselves facing off against a larger foe, however, it was an Ursus that’d burrowed through a wall and occupied the area. A slight draft emanated out from the gaping hole and the girls decided that it was probably not the way to go; instead entering another tunnel that led them even deeper underground. The walls felt ever closer as they progressed; a feeling that was more than an illusion as the girls were left crawling by the end, finally squeezing through a small opening to enter a massive chamber.

The four walls were, similar to the cella above, decorated with carvings though they were now accompanied by ancient, faded banners and scrolls that hung from bronze poles that’d been driven into the stone. The girls went around the room, lighting the braziers, illuminating the large doors that sat on the opposite end of the massive hall. They’d have guessed this was all prepared for them if the idea wasn’t overly cynical. Pressing her ear to their wooden surface, Yang paused before giving a slight nod towards the other three. There was something behind it; something they’d probably have to take down with force.

They prepared for the coming battle, getting as much as they could in order. Several small traps were set about the room in case whatever they were dealing with tried to use the objects around them but it was only when Ruby called them all together for a meeting that they started making real progress in their preparation. “Alright guys, we need a plan.”

“And what do you want us to do? We’ve got no idea what we’re going up against.” Weiss’ response was a sharp retort, but Ruby continued undeterred.

“Well, let’s start by figuring out what we’ve got. I have another ten shots with my exploding shells, and then thirty normal rounds. My semblance lets me dodge and move quickly. You guys?” Weiss sighed, following Ruby’s queue.

“Fine. My rapier can be infused with dust for all sorts of attacks, and I can use my glyphs to move things quickly, provide footholds or create weak shields against attacks. Your turn.” Yang nodded.

“Aright! I punch things and my gauntlets have shotguns in them. Good against pretty much anything at close-range, but at long-range Ruby has me beat. Just put me in the front!” Weiss shook her head, somewhat frustrated by the blonde girl’s enthusiastic words as they’d lacked real substance.

“And your semblance, Yang?”

“Riiiight, yeah, so when I get hurt I hit things harder.” Weiss just shook her head at this, leaving it to Ruby to continue the conversation.

“How about you Blake? You’re a really agile fighter, but how do you like to fight?” The girl’s bow fluttered slightly, her focus turning away from Weiss and Yang, and back towards Ruby.

“Hmph. I can shoot accurately and keep myself from getting hit. My semblance lets me make a copy of myself that’s destroyed as soon as anything touches it. Good for decoys but not much else.”

“Okay! So Weiss, how much dust do you have on you?” The white-haired girl blinked for a moment before pulling out a bag and looking through it.

“Twenty units of fire, eighteen units of lightning, twenty-six of ice, fourteen of earth, seventeen of wind and twelve water. What for?” Ruby nodded, noting down the amounts.

“OK! Weiss, give Yang six of the fire and the lightning dust. They’ll work well with her semblance and let us get some hefty hits in no matter how big our enemy is.” Yang nodded, smiling broadly at her younger sister’s words. “I don’t need any, I have my own job.” Blake’s hand raised gently.

“Give me some of the earth and fire dust. I can use it with my shadows, use it for traps.” The girls nodded, divvying out the supplies as they continued.

“Alright-” Ruby started, moving the conversation forward. “Let’s figure out what we’re likely facing here.” She looked around the group, searching for suggestions.

“Well, I think the most obvious is a minotaur given what we saw on that engraving earlier.” Yang nodded along with Weiss’ words, giving her own two cents afterwards:

“Yeah. Large, humanoid and probably using a weapon.” Blake nodded slightly, only to interject a second later.

“No, it’s probably not that. If it was a minotaur, it’d be able to open those doors, right? Gotta be some other kind of Grimm.” Ruby looked down at the scratchings they’d made into the hewn stone ground, trying to think.

“Well, at the very least we should plan for it to be big and strong… And if it flies I can knock it back down to the ground.” The other three turned back towards Ruby as she spoke, scratching down notes. “In any case,” Ruby turned back towards the group, locking eyes with the other three girls, “there’s not much more we can talk about here. I’ll stay in the back, using Crescent Rose in its rifle config until I’m out of ammo; then I’ll run in. In the meanwhile, you three fight up-close. Yang, focus on hitting it hard and keeping its attention. Blake, you try setting up traps with your semblance, and take the attention off Yang if she’s hurt too badly, OK?” The black-haired girl nodded. “Lastly Weiss. We’ll need you to focus on support and getting in hits when you can. Use the glyphs to help Yang fight and get attacks in whenever there’s an opportunity.” The trio nodded, affirming Ruby’s words. “Alright girls, let’s do this!”

It was almost as soon as they began opening the door that the girls heard its cry. Yang was in the front, pushing the doors open before diving to the side; avoiding a massive plume of flame that began blowing out from the thin opening. Ruby ducked behind a pillar, using it to steady her rifle as she watched massive paws push through the crack, tearing open the heavy wooden doors and revealing the terrifying visage of their owners; of the monster that’d blown such horrifying flames. Four sets of red eyes glittered out from the gloom, each belonging to a separate head. The core body was that of a lion with two thick, leathery wings connected to each of its shoulders. Just above the joints were two heads, one on either side; a ram and white dragon, with the mouths of both emitting a thick black mist. Behind it, coiling in the shadows, was the head of a serpent that sparked with unholy energy. It was a monster they’d only read about in books, a mythical species of Grimm that appeared wherever sins against creation occurred. It was a Chimera, its unholy visage etching fear deep into the hearts of the four girls. They’d picked a fight with a true monster, and this would be a duel to the death.

Yang was the first to move, her fist connecting with the jaw of the lion and forcing the monster to flinch. It was an intense blow, but it seemed to barely phase the beast as the right head- a goat- began bleating. A moment later, Yang dodged out from the path of a powerful sonic blast; one which pulverized the stone floors into dust. With space now made, however, Ruby placed her first shot: the heavy steel bullet flying true to strike through the eye of the dragon, blowing it out entirely. The head flinched, however, this only cemented the growing feeling that the four had: Each head thought, felt and acted independently from the others. They’d have to kill each of them one at a time.

Blake circled, firing small-calibre rounds into the tough hide of the monster while Yang moved quickly around the Chimera, aided by Weiss’ glyphs. With the monster turned, Ruby placed another couple of rounds into the beast’s flank while Weiss moved in from the opposite side, delivering a dust-powered blow into the neck of the goat head. Sparks flew for a second, only for the point of impact to burst into flames and explode a second later as chunks of meat were blown out from the goat’s neck. With a final death bleat, waves of sonic energy flew throughout the room though it was to little effect. The girls were left unscathed and mostly intact after slaying the first, and they’d continue this dance as long as they had to.

The Chimera on the other hand was not ready to lay down and die. The heavy wings beat for a moment, blowing Weiss and Yang away from where it’d been standing just a second earlier. Now airborne, Ruby had to switch up her plans as the flying monster began raining down down elemental fury. Ruby dipped behind the pillar she’d been using for cover just as a powerful wave of frost blew past where her head had been a moment earlier. Not wasting time, however, she used the brief respite to switch out her ammunition for the explosives. It wasn’t the ideal scenario, but Ruby could use them to her advantage now. At the very least, get the monster back on the ground. While she was doing this, Weiss fell back to provide support for Yang and Blake as they moved, using their weapons to put as many small wounds into the body of the powerful Grimm as they could.

Finished, Ruby rolled back out of cover, sprinting quickly around pillars as the three remaining heads of the Chimera focused on different targets. While the dragon blew intensely cold wind, following Ruby’s path as best it could as she wove between pillars, the others were more focused on Blake and Yang. The serpent bit and snapped at the girls, while the lion belched out plumes of flame so hot that they turned the stone beneath their feet to glass. It was only when Weiss made another powerful thrust- this time piercing the already damaged dragon head- did Ruby have the time to set up her firing position. As she lay down to steady the rifle, Weiss went to town on the monster’s back; dodging the bites of the serpent while stabbing into the necks and torso of the colossal beast.

It was only when Ruby called out her name that she fell back, leaping off the monster’s back as Ruby’s first shot pierced the dragon’s neck; blowing the head off entirely. A powerful stream of frost blew out from the hole as the monster reared back, shrapnel having embedded itself all across its legs, wings and back. It had no respite, however, as Ruby chambered her second round and placed another accurate shot, striking the shoulder and blowing off its left-wing entirely and sending the beast crashing back down to Earth. “Yang, front! Weiss, left side. Blake, support!” Ruby called out commands quickly, getting up and switching her weapon to rifle configuration. Even if the lion's head died, there’d still be the serpent and, noticing the crackling energy just in time, Ruby was reminded of how dangerous that head was.

The goat focused on sonic attacks, the white dragon on frost and the lion’s head on fire. It left a hole, however, and the powerful bolt of lightning that struck Ruby betrayed the serpent’s power. The spines on its head arced with electricity and its eyes sparkled with the fury of the sky. The Chimera was a lord among monsters, and that quick turnaround had been a sharp reminder of that fact. Thankfully her aura had blocked most of the damage, however, Ruby could feel her muscles twitching in pain as she tried to force her body to move. This was the danger of going up against electrical attacks; if you’re hit, you’re out of commission for at least a few seconds, if not outright minutes. A concerned glance from Yang and Blake was all she was spared though, as the rest of the team focused on pulling the monster away from Ruby’s twitching body.

The other three were handling this job rather well, however, with Yang moving quickly to physically push the monster wherever she needed it to go and Blake using her semblance to distract and injure the tail whenever it’d try to swipe at or bite her. It was effective in drawing the serpent’s attention back away from their injured comrade, however, it didn’t progress their fight as much as they needed it to. The head was far too agile and far too resilient for any of the three to take down reliably. Yang had the strength to crack its scales but wouldn’t be able to hit it. Weiss’ weapon couldn’t pierce them meaning she was useless against the limb and Blake herself was best at dealing with human-sized opponents. Something like this was too far out of her wheelhouse to be winnable for her. They were left waiting for Ruby to recover.

Yang didn’t waste this time doing nothing, however, as she placed several heavy punches all across the front of the monster while absorbing any attacks it threw her way. Rather than dodge, she’d block the heavy paws of the Chimera and use it as fuel for her semblance; each blow she dealt or received causing increasingly bright flames to manifest all across her body. The closer she got to defeat, the easier it’d be for her to win the fight and, as her fist pulverized the right-half of the Chimera’s ribcage, Yang’s confidence only grew. Weiss had taken a back-seat role throughout this, using her glyphs to help the other two girls move more swiftly or, in the case of Yang, reduce some of the incoming damage whenever the Chimera would swipe at her. Even if it irked the berserker now, it’d be better for the long-run if they could outlast the monster rather than sprint to exhaustion now. She turned her eyes back towards Ruby’s crumpled form, now on its feet.

Ruby stretched slightly, getting the remaining twitches out of her muscles as she hoisted her massive weapon above her head. “Weiss!” The young woman’s eyes connected with Weiss’, an understanding flowing between the two wordlessly as several glyphs began manifesting in front of her. “Let’s go!” Ruby shouted a split second before taking off, with Weiss calling out a quick warning just after. Ruby moved with increasing speed towards her target, the scythe’s edge hanging just an inch off the ground as she sprinted towards the Chimera’s serpentine tail. Noticing just in time, Blake dove out of the way as Ruby sped past and hopped, letting the scythe’s blade trail behind her and wrap around the base of the Chimera’s tail, severing it as the titanic force continued past. Rather than let Ruby turn herself into paste on the opposite wall, however, Weiss began placing glyphs just in front of the girl to let her continue moving and divert the force away while gradually slowing down.

Yang took advantage of Ruby’s kill, however, and redoubled her pummelling of the Chimera’s front. Blake now moved in fully to assist, scoring deep cuts across its flank as Yang hopped onto the monster’s back. Grabbing its mane, she wrenched its head upwards and began twisting, aura flaring with her semblance as her form burned with a furious light. The Chimera growled and howled, trying desperately to shake the human girl off but to avail. Instead, Yang clung more tightly, even as it rolled onto its back and exposed its belly. Not wasting the opportunity, Blake and Weiss both charged in; their weapons striking deep wounds into its abdomen and torso with the heavy blasts that came after Weiss’ usage of fire dust following just a second later. Three thrusts, three blasts. The monster’s internal organs ruptured and burst, its belly rumbling from the force of the explosions that rocked through its system and crushed its heart. It twitched and shuddered, a death howl escaping from its maw as Yang kicked upwards, sending the beast off her body and letting all three roll to safety as it came crashing back down, finally still.

First came the sigh of relief, and then cheering. The entire group was excited by their accomplishment, having felled something they’d all understood to have been a legendary monster. Definitely a story to tell whenever they had the chance. That said, however, their job was still not complete and, as their attention turned towards the large chamber that the Chimera had been guarding, they could finally see the object they were here to retrieve. A gleaming-white chess piece, small enough to fit comfortably in Ruby’s palm. The white queen, in all her glory and, as Ruby slipped it into their pouch, they all received another buzz on their Scrolls:

“CONGRATULATIONS.”

They looked amongst one another, a mixture of excitement and apprehension splayed out across their faces. This was it, they’d fought so hard and survived their exam and from this point onwards, they’d be training to be huntresses. It was exciting, to say the least, though the mood was hampered a bit when their scrolls indicated that they’d be picked up the following morning; that they’d need to sleep overnight. At the very least, none of them were bothered by this development as they felt confident enough to secure at least one room for them to sleep in.

They ended up returning to the cella, barricading the front entrance and the tunnels, then using the large bronze bowl in the centre of the room to hold their fire while they chatted late into the night. It was well after midnight, as the light of the moon beamed down into the temple through cracks in its walls, that they finally fell asleep.

Hours later, they were awoken by the sound of a helicopter landing outside. Removing the barriers, they were greeted by a cheery-looking headmaster who gave the quartet a slight bow as he greeted them: “Good job, girls; you passed with flying colours. On behalf of all the faculty, I welcome you to Beacon. Now come, I’d like to hear all about your experience and your teamwork. I’m sure you’ve learned a lot about each other and will be thrilled to learn that you’ll be working together for the remainder of your education at my institution. Ah, one question though. Who will be your team leader?” The older girls all looked amongst each other for a moment, before nodding. “Ruby.” Ozpin laughed softly and Ruby was left utterly baffled as the group was shuffled into the aircraft and flown away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's late! Ended up being longer than planned and I tried to put more work into making it flow and have interesting ideas.  
> Another chapter is planned for Friday.


	6. The Comforts of Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They find and settle into their dorms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I told you I'd do it.

The girls relaxed once they were back on the ground, having spent the duration of the ride explaining to the Headmaster every little detail of their battles in the Emerald Forest. He’d seemed unusually interested but, as far as they could tell, it was genuine. Small questions about minor things and when they’d explained the temple’s mural Professor Ozpin simply laughed before beckoning them to continue. They’d tried to press him for an explanation, but the wizened man only shrugged in response. Once the rotors of the helicopter had slowed somewhat he beckoned the girls to depart, handing Ruby a pamphlet with directions on where to go. Together, the four watched the aircraft lift back up off the ground and head back in the direction of the forest.

Yang pressed up alongside Ruby, her arm wrapping around the petite sister’s shoulders as she looked down at the paper in Ruby’s hands. “So, what’s in it?” The other two crowded in, waiting eagerly for Ruby to start reading.

“Uhm, OK. ‘Welcome to Beacon Academy’.” She flipped past the first page, looking through the rest of it. “It’s a guidebook, I guess? Directions to the cafeteria, dorms, student services... Wow, there’s a lot of stuff here...”

“Not used to large campuses?” Weiss chirped, with Ruby nodding in response.

“Not really. Signal had two halls and a student dorm. The school kept our dorms stocked, but we had to cook for ourselves.” Yang nodded along as Ruby spoke, smiling slightly.

“Yep, that’s right. We all had to cook for ourselves- or at least we were supposed to, eh sis?” Ruby looked away sheepishly. “Too bad this girl can’t cook to save her life!” Yang laughed as she spoke and Ruby’s cheeks flushed red. Weiss, however, placed a sympathetic hand on Ruby’s shoulder.

“Well, maybe we can teach you a bit. Actually-” The white-haired girl turned towards Blake, looking over her for a moment before swinging her gaze back towards the sisters. “We should probably do our tour of the campus after we unpack. Does it tell you where our dorms are?” Ruby pulled away from Yang slightly, flipping through the pamphlet until she reached the page with information about the dorms.

“Hmmm... OK. Says that there’s four dorm buildings.”

“Makes sense, you graduate after four years of training here after all.” Blake interjected, drawing a nod from the rest of the group.

“Yeah. Let’s see... Here! One of the buildings is circled here, the Winter building.” Ruby looked up as she said this, making eye contact with the rest of the team. A quick nod from the rest and Blake began leading the group towards the dorm buildings.

Their dormitory was a large marble structure with a flattish roof, machicolations formed around every ridge and dotting the bottoms of the balconies. Large metallic support pillars were inlaid into the stone walls of the structure, providing additional strength to the building by rounding out the corners that would otherwise be weak points in its structure. Two large windows met their eyes on either side of the large gatehouse that provided additional barriers to entry, should the building’s occupants need to fortify it. The gate was, of course, open at the moment and the girls walked beneath the heavy steel gate; opening the doors to the dorm and entering.

Their eyes were greeted by a luxurious interior. The building contained everything a group of huntsmen-in-training could want, from a built-in bathhouse to a beautiful lounge for the various students to work, study and talk in. On all the walls hung the banner of the dorm building; a beautiful white lily painted over the deep crimson background. The four of them looked around, searching for directions. Eventually, they found them in the form of a map that was bolted onto a wall near the staircase heading upwards. It showed three floors and a basement, listing all the facilities and tools at the residents’ disposal for the duration of their studies. Ruby couldn’t help but smile as her eyes glossed over to the basement, which contained a fully kitted-out forge- something she’d  _ definitely  _ have to make use of soon.

The group’s excitement only built as they climbed the stairs to the second floor. Upon reaching the landing, they were greeted by another, smaller lounge- this time occupied. Sitting in one of the chairs was none other than Jaune, who simply looked towards Ruby and smiled as the group entered. “Hey, how’s it going?” Ruby smiled, wandering into the room and plopping herself down into one of the couches.

“Pretty good. Had to kill a Chimera in some ruins. You?”

“Ah. Yeah, we killed a Death Stalker.”

“Oooh, nice. How’d you do it?” Jaune pointed behind him and towards a pink-haired girl who was bustling around the small kitchen that was attached to the room.

“Nora there cracked its shell and Pyrrha blew it up. I... didn’t really do anything though.” The blonde-haired man looked away bashfully, only for Pyrrha to walk in.

“Come on Jaune, don’t talk down about yourself like that. It was your plan, after all.” Jaune shook his head slightly as Pyrrha turned towards Ruby. “Ruby, right? You said that you took down a Chimera. What was it like?” Ruby nodded excitedly as the woman sat down beside her, placing a tray down on the table. Behind, the rest of Ruby’s team began searching for their room.

They looked around the second floor, not finding any signage that would indicate that they were to occupy a space. Most of the rooms were empty, however, a few of them had plates that stated the names of their occupants. It wasn’t until they climbed the steps to the third floor that they found their own room. It was the sole occupied room on the floor, with another two partitioned away but left empty. Silently they wondered if this was normal, or if their year had just been unusually depopulated relative to others.

Opening the door to their room, they were greeted by a sight they weren’t expecting. Rather than a single room with a connected bathroom, it was a complete apartment with a small kitchen, complete bathroom and four bedrooms- one for each of the girls. The main room of the apartment was kitted out with a large television and several couches, with a dining space off to the back. Lamps hung from the walls with pull-cords so that the room’s occupants could flick them on or off without having to get up, and sitting on each of the tables were vases with a small assortment of flowers within, adding a nice fragrance to the air of the room. All their luggage had been left in the living room, stacked onto furniture or left leaning against the couches. Whoever had moved it had also clearly been careful, as all Weiss’ cases and equipment had been delicately laid out on a loveseat, so as to avoid any jostling that might damage the valuable contents. Something she was glad to have double-checked too, as when she opened one of the reinforced briefcases she was delighted to see that her dust supply had been left in perfect condition. The three looked back to one another. “We should probably go get Ruby, she’ll wanna see this.” Yang spoke cheerfully, drawing a nod from the other two girls.

Back downstairs, Ruby was just wrapping up her conversation with Pyrrha and Jaune; finishing her explanation of how they’d killed the Chimera. The two seemed more impressed than anything else, with the rest of their team coming in to listen to Ruby’s story. It wasn’t long after, however, that Yang, Blake and Weiss re-entered the room. Ruby had been in the middle of answering some of Jaune’s questions about the Chimera- how it fought, what kind of abilities it had, those sorts of questions that any enthusiastic huntsman-to-be would be asking but when Yang rested a hand on Ruby’s shoulder, the conversation trailed off. Looking up, Ruby greeted her sister: “Oh, hey Yang. Find our room?” Yang nodded, smiling.

“Oh yeah, and it’s way cool. Come on, let’s get unpacked.” Ruby nodded, waving back at Jaune and Pyrrha’s team as she got up and left. Reaching the apartment, Ruby gasped in amazement as she looked around the expansive interior.

“Wow! It’s so big! Nothing like back at Signal!” Yang nodded, smiling.

“Yup, pretty snazzy eh? Look, we each get a room.” Ruby followed her half-sister’s gaze, observing the four doors. Each had an electronic plate bolted to its surface and, when Ruby tapped on one, she found that she could draw on it. She looked back towards Yang and the rest of them and, seeing that they approved, she wrote her name down, claiming the room as her own.

The four of them began unloading their luggage into their respective rooms. Ruby decorating the walls and hangers of her own with weapons and tools, with her shelves filled with a combination of comic books and manuals. Her clothes were haphazardly thrown into drawers and shelves, their owner too excited to place them nicely. Once she’d finished, she excitedly dashed out of the room to explore the rest of the dormitory, leaving the rest of her team to finish unpacking. Speeding down the stairs, Ruby soon found herself in the basement of the building. All around her were the tools any good smith would need for their craft; machines set out in precise locations to allow their users to quickly move without obstruction, and large fans placed everywhere to suck away the dust and residue. It was all too wonderful to Ruby, who looked over the artisan’s paradise with gleaming eyes.

Back in the room, Weiss had finished unpacking as well and quietly regarded her room. It was, to say the least, utilitarian. She had few personal effects placed about the room, with most shelf space instead occupied with dust. It was neatly organized, with the canisters placed near to a dispenser that she could use to make it into whatever she needed. Her clothes had been neatly placed into the closet, with what little jewellery she had brought stored in a locked strongbox on top of her rather empty dresser. Her sister, Winter, had told her that she wouldn’t need much in the way of clothes here but Weiss couldn’t help but feel like her options were, for lack of better words, lacking.

She stepped out of her room, sitting down on one of the couches before turning on the large flat-screen television. Flicking to life, she was surprised to find that it was already set to one of the local news channels, one which was talking about the string of recent dust thefts.

_ “-nd what do we know of this group?” _

_ “Not much, sadly.”  _ The anchor was speaking to one of the city councillors of Vale, who didn’t seem to give any good answers to the woman’s questions.  _ “We know they exist and who they’re led by, however, we do not know if they have any affiliations to other groups or what their greater goal is. Furthermore, they remain at large so please, if anyone watching has any information, let the police know.” _

_ “And has the dust they’ve stolen appeared in illicit marketplaces?” _

_ “No Susan. Instead, this has correlated with a rise in general dust prices. We’ve been monitoring underground elements and have found that even they are having issues sourcing dust nowadays.” _

_ “And can you confirm that the man known as Roman Torchwick is the one responsible for these thefts?” _

_ “I can, and the Vale government is doing everything it can to bring him to justice.” _

_ “Thank you Councillor.”  _ The interview ended, cutting back to a drab presenter with a scrolling Chiron just beneath.

“Damn, cops still having trouble rounding them up?” Weiss turned to the speaker, seeing that Yang had entered the room.

“Yeah. Those hooligans keep robbing Schnee-affiliated stores. Father was losing his mind over it when I left.” Weiss turned back towards the television as Yang sat down beside her, sinking into the plush leather couch.

“Your father? Don’t tell me you’re-”

“I am, not that it matters. I’m here for a reason.” Weiss cut Yang off with the curt statement, leaving a moment of silence in the room.

“Okay then, touchy subject.” A sharp look from Weiss made Yang pause again, laughing a bit. “Hey, I’m just teasing. You know that Torchwick guy is why Ruby’s even at Beacon.” Weiss gave Yang a sideways glance, clearly interested by the statement.

“How so? You’re not affiliated with him in some way, are you?” Yang smiled.

“Nah, Ruby was out getting some stuff to make those bullets you saw. Ended up running into the guy mid-robbery and getting into a fight.” Weiss nodded slowly as she listened.

“Ohh, so she interfered with the heist and I guess the faculty noticed?”

“Something like that. She said that she got arrested by Professor Goodwitch and talked to Professor Ozpin while in custody.” Weiss nodded again.

“Pretty unbelievable.” Yang laughed at the response.

“Yeah, I wouldn’t have believed it either if my uncle hadn’t been there too. He was the one that ended up picking her up.” The two continued chatting, the TV chattering in the background. By the time it’d gotten to being evening, Blake had come out of her own room and joined them while Ruby was still nowhere to be seen. They looked to Yang who just shrugged. “She’s probably messing around downstairs, either with Jaune or in the forge. Gal loves her weapons after all~” the statement was odd as far as the other girls were concerned, but they followed after Yang as they made their way down into the basement.

Once they’d reached it, they found Ruby toiling away at a munitions press, a gleeful smile on her face. Walking in, Yang called out to her: “Hey, Ruby! It’s dinner time!” Ruby visibly jumped as Yang called, her focus broken as she spun to look at her older sister.

“Woah, really? It’s been that long?”

“Yeah. Come on ya dork, let's get some grub!” Ruby stood up quickly before gathering the products she’d been working on and stowing them into a bag. She ran up to Yang, who gave a slight cough while in the background, Blake’s nose wrinkled slightly. “Oof, yeah, you gotta get cleaned up first. Here-” Yang reached down and grabbed the bag Ruby was holding, the younger sister letter her take it without any resistance. “I’ll go throw this in your room, you go get showered, OK? Ruby nodded, only half-listening to what her sister was saying as she began running up the stairs. Blake watched, frowning slightly as the fifteen-year-old bounded away.

“She really gets into things.” Yang laughed a bit following after Ruby at her own pace.

“Yeah, Ruby’s a bit of a gun nut. She  _ love _ s __ working on weapons and making her own ammo.”

“I see…” The black hair girl nodded slightly, following after Yang as they climbed the stairs. By the time they reached their dorm, Ruby had already gotten dressed into a plain cloth dress, her combat gear needing to be washed. Yang set down the bag in the corner of the room and looked towards Ruby.

“You ready to go now?” She asked, brow half-cocked.

“Yup!”


	7. Mememto Mori

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's best if I say as little as possible. Do give your thoughts if you feel like it.

Jaune was sitting in the main foyer of the dorm when he noticed the four girls had started making their exit. He watched passively, only waving to Ruby as her eyes glanced towards him for a moment, only to return back to Yang. He too looked away, returning his gaze to the brochure that he and the rest of his group had been given. He flicked through the pages, observing the various factoids about the facilities and services that Beacon offered. Public halls, a large library, training rooms and a cafeteria that was open until five in the evening; it was all much more than he’d expected and he couldn’t help but be dazzled by the circumstances he’d gotten himself into. The fact that he’d managed to get in at all had shocked him; that he’d survived the entrance exam only intensified his mixed feelings.

The man was pulled out of his own head as one of the members of his ‘team’, Nora, called out: “Dinner’s ready!” Jaune stood up, inhaling the scent that’d begun to permeate the room. A sweet, eastern fragrance that he couldn’t quite place the origin of assailed his nostrils, much to his pleasure as Jaune was quickly drawn to the table. He sat down beside Pyrrha, who waited patiently for everyone to sit down before speaking: 

“Alright, let’s do a prayer.” Jaune cocked his head slightly but, taking direction from everyone else at the table, he lowered his head while Pyrrha spoke: “Thank you, gods, for our bread, for those we know and the time ahead.” She paused, Jaune sneaking a peek as she placed a piece of meat into a small brazier that she’d lit. “May our future come with thy blessing.” Jaune lifted his head in time with the rest of the group, just as Pyrrha cracked open a steaming hot loaf of bread.

The meal was calm, with the participants not speaking much. Jaune stole glances towards Pyrrha who quickly noticed and smiled back. “Is there a problem, Jaune?” The man shook his head.

“N-no. I just didn’t take you for the religious type.” Pyrrha nodded slowly, a slight smile on her face.

“You were raised in the city, right?” Jaune nodded. “Mmm. My experience was that city folk didn’t have the same… _connection_ that we did out in the countryside.”

“I… see…” Pyrrha’s eyes closed slightly, her face carrying an expression that almost resembled nostalgia.

“There was a lot that we didn’t have out in the countryside. We couldn’t rely on the guard to protect us so we turned elsewhere.” Jaune nodded again, frowning.

“That makes sense. Though, the guard always boasted about how well they protected rural towns. Was that a lie?” Pyrrha smiled towards Jaune, dabbing some leftover sauce from the corner of her mouth.

“In a sense. For us, the guard was as dangerous as bandits or the Grimm. All they did was come and take taxes. Nothing but thugs hired by the Duke of Myre.”

“Oh…” Jaune’s gaze fell down towards the table, searching through the food for some kind of response.

“Wow, you guys like to talk about heavy stuff!” The enthused statement came from the pink-haired girl across the table; Nora. She looked between the two, their attention caught, and continued: “Instead of that, what do you think of Ren’s cooking?” Jaune blinked for a moment while Pyrrha simply nodded.

“It’s delicious. I’m thankful that you took the time yesterday to go shopping, Ren. Thank you.” The Eastern man returned her gaze, giving a slight nod.

“Good. Fast food rots the soul.” Pyrrha’s eyebrow cocked up slightly and Nora came in swiftly to elaborate:

“He means that it’s not good for you.” The explanation drew a quiet ‘oh’ from Jaune and Pyrrha. The three looked amongst each other before laughing slightly and returning to the meal. The Mistralian cuisine was certainly different from what Jaune and Pyrrha were used to but both were amazed by the depth of flavour each dish had. Some savoury, some sweet, it was something neither of them had experienced in their relatively isolated home nation.

Eventually, the conversation shifted somewhat to the events of the previous day and all that’d happened until this moment. The forest, their battles, their idle chatter passed over it until something caught Jaune’s attention. “Hey, guys?” The conversation paused for a moment, everyone turning to look at him. “How many people were in that exam?” They blinked for a moment, both Nora and Pyrrha turning away to think. Ren was the first to speak, however, with a flat response:

“Forty before the speeches. Thirty-two after. Twelve now.” Jaune nodded and turned to the rest of the group.

“Then didn’t most of the people who applied just… Die?” Pyrrha sighed slightly, with Nora and Ren both following her head as it bobbed.

“Jaune, why are you at this school?” The man paused, surprised by the sharpness of Pyrrha’s words.

“I… Want to be a huntsman, like my grandfather.” Pyrrha frowned at Jaune's words as she nodded.

“And are you willing to risk your life to achieve that dream?” Jaune’s brow furrowed, the man unsure of how to respond. “It’s fine if you don’t know, but the answer you should have is ‘yes’. That’s how all those people who took that exam felt.” Jaune raised his head slightly, meeting the gazes of the people who he now had to consider team-mates. One after another he looked, realizing that they all shared in the determination that Pyrrha held.

“Oh…” The crimson-haired woman smiled, placing a hand on Jaune’s shoulder.

“It’s fine to think there’s something wrong with it, but those people made their choices. We should celebrate that they tried, rather than mourn that they failed, no?” Jaune nodded, looking away from her as she spoke. As they returned to the meal, Jaune couldn’t help but feel his mind wander towards Ruby, wondering if she’d had the same realization as them; wondering if she had the same opinion as Pyrrha.

* * *

The girls walked down Main Street, the setting sun beating down their backs. Yang smiled, dragging Ruby along, as the rest of the group followed after. “Should be right around here~” Yang said, excited by the atmosphere around them, “ah! Look, right over there!” She pointed towards one of the signs that hung off the side of a building, reading: ‘The Sunflower Cafe’ and adorned with illustrations of the flowers on its face. The fiery girl pushed open the door, dragging Ruby along as they entered the building. Once inside, they were greeted by a relatively plain-looking Faunus man, a pair of rounded brownish ears atop his head.

“Ah, welcome. You can sit over there while you wait or if you’ve-”

“We have a reservation. Xiao Long for four.” The man paused after being cut off, taking a moment to collect himself. Clearing his throat, he continued speaking:

“Mhm. Ah, of course. Let me see here… Yes, that is correct. A waitress will lead you to your seats in just a moment.” Yang smiled and nodded towards the rest of the group as a neatly dressed woman rounded the corner.

“Xiao Long for four?” Yang turned back to the source of the voice.

“That’s us!” The waitress smiled, bowing slightly.

“Then please follow me.”

The restaurant’s interior was surprisingly empty for the time of day, with the majority of the tables completely unoccupied. The few people that were seated seemed to be young couples with none giving even the slightest glance to the four of them. After a few seconds of walking, the waitress stopped at a medium-sized table and gestured towards it with a slight bow. “And here we are. I’ll bring your menus in just a moment.” Yang thanked the woman as she took her seat, the other three following suit.

“So you brought us to a date cafe? Really?” Weiss’ comment cut through the group’s quiet atmosphere and, before Yang could respond, she continued: “Is this where you take all the people you met and fought in a forest with after you meet them?” The blonde shot back a swift retort:

“Hey, I just like the food here, OK?”

“Sure, but is it really… Appropriate?” Weiss turned her head slightly, looking towards a couple who were kissing in the corner. “Isn’t Ruby you’re younger sister?” Yang frowned, seemingly confused.

“I really don’t see the problem.” Weiss sighed and, at the same moment, the waitress returned to start handing out their menus. The woman picked up her smile and pulled out a small pad.

“Alright, and what would you like to drink?” She looked around the table as she waited, the four girls quietly flicking to the back of the menu.

“Yeah, I’ll have a cola.” Yang was the first to give her order, quickly followed by Weiss:

“Caramel ice cappuccino for me, thanks.” Yang snickered slightly and Ruby smiled. “What?”

“Girl comes from the land of ice and snow, then orders iced coffee.” Yang said. Weiss huffed, folding her arms.

“I like the taste, what about it?”

“Nuthin.” Blake sighed as the two argued and turned to the waiting woman.

“Chai latte, please.” The woman nodded, writing down just as the two girls’ argument had started to settle. Turning towards Ruby, she asked: “And what would you like?” Ruby perked up, roused.

“Oh, uh, Rootbeer is good!” The waitress smiled, writing down the order as she strode away from the table once more.

The four waited patiently, flicking through the menu’s various options as they did so. Weiss seemed to be the most interested, flicking through the various options and studying the text. “I didn’t realize that so many of your dishes had bread in them. I’m kind of impressed by the variety.” Ruby looked towards her, head cocked slightly.

“Is it different in Atlus?” Weiss nodded.

“Yeah, it’s hard to grow much there and we rely on greenhouses for it so a lot of our crops have to be specially selected. Lots of roots and whole grains, and even we had to have rye bread.”

“We?”

“Oh right, I didn’t tell you. My last name is Schnee. Came here to get away from my father.” Ruby’s confused expression turned to concern as her brow furrowed and she responded.

“What happened?” Weiss’ gaze lowered slightly as she rested her head on her knuckles.

“Right, that hasn’t been made public yet. Well my sister, Winter, was caught in a terrorist attack. The White Fang bombed the train she was on and she was pretty badly injured. Dad went kinda nuts after that and I needed to get away.” Weiss turned slightly, looking at the girls around the table and, as she did so, Blake looked away.

“Wow, that really sucks.” Yang carried an uncharacteristically worried expression as she spoke, and Weiss simply smiled as she listened to the words.

“Winter is strong, she’ll get better soon. I’m worried about my brother though, he didn’t have the same… _Luxuries_ I did. Anyways, what do you recommend miss ‘I just like the food here’? Any local delicacies I should try?” Yang nodded, shifting with the flow of the conversation.

“Well, the Buffalo Stew is something I’d definitely recommend-”

They chattered idly about their orders as they waited for another minute or so until the waitress finally arrived with their drinks. She handed them out their respective orders, before standing back once more. “Alright, and what would you like to eat?” Following the same order, the girls spoke, asking for a range of dishes that the waitress diligently wrote down, only to scurry away once more.

“You know they’ve never been this slow before. Not even when it’s packed.” Yang said, sipping her drink.

“Looks like they’ve got a lot of out-orders, judging from the number of people coming in and then leaving.” The reasonable response was given by Blake, who’d taken to leaning onto her arms. Yang frowned, but nodded nonetheless, her agreement made clear.

“I do wonder though, do you have money to pay for all this?” Weiss looked around to the group, quizzical.

“Oh yeah, you’re a rich girl. Forgot.” Yang chuckled slightly. “We get a commission for every confirmed kill we report and the school takes half. It’s nothing huge, but, it pays the tuition.” Weiss nodded.

“Ohh, that makes sense. Yeah in Atlus the government just takes care of all that.”

“Weird. Aren’t you guys some sort of constitutional monarchy or something?” Weiss frowned slightly, shaking her head.

“No, more like a constitutional dictatorship. General Ironwood has total rulership over the continent but if the Atlus Party votes him out, he’ll be replaced. Seemed like most people were, for the most part, happy with the system. Economy was doing good, people had food and the Grimm were being held back by the military. Business boomed too.”

“It’s kind of weird, isn’t it though?” Weiss looked at Yang, confused.

“How so? It’s no different from The Valentian Kingdoms or the Mistralian Empire. Single powerful ruler with a group of advisers. Seems to be the best way to run things at this point.” Yang shrugged, surrendering the point. “Anyways, I guess you guys have plenty of cash. Oh, Blake, where are you from? Do you have money?” The girl went rigid when Weiss addressed her, before relaxing as the white-haired girl finished speaking.

“Oh, yeah. My situation is a bit different from them, but I’ve got cash.” Weiss smiled slightly towards Blake.

“That’s good, just making sure before anything comes up, you know? We’re gonna have to be living together for a few years, after all.” Off to the side, Yang nodded.

“Yeah, best to get any misgivings out of the way no-” the girl trailed off for a moment, her attention caught: “oh there it comes!” Turning to look, Weiss and Blake both observed the waitress arrive carrying several platters of food which she carefully set down across the table.

“Alright, for goldilocks we’ve got pulled pork on Myrric and for you, a turkey and bacon sub-” she set down the dishes in front of Yang and Weiss, both of whom eagerly regarded their food. “For miss black, here’s your fish and chips. Trout, just like you asked.” Blake nodded, a slight smile on her face as she watched the food be set down in front of her. “And finally for little red over there, here’s your chicken strips.” Ruby nodded as the warm plate was set down in front of her, thanking the waitress as she stepped back and returned to wait on the rest of the room.

They ate steadily, the girls enjoying their various meals with Yang scanning the expressions of her team-mates. “It’s good, right?” Soft noises of assent echoed from across the table. Yang smirked, turning back to Weiss. “Hey, you get movies over in Atlus?” Weiss shrugged.

“Some. Lots of Valentian culture gets imported in. Which one are you talking about?”

“The one with Lady Fall in it, of course.” Weiss’ eyes turned upwards, resting her chin against her hand.

“Right, that one. Came out a month ago, right?” Yang nodded, smirking. “I don’t remember Lady Fall doing any promotion for it though…” Yang’s smile faded slightly.

“Well, I’m sure she’s busy.” Weiss nodded slowly.

“Probably another film, if we’re being honest.” Yang’s head bobbed alongside Weiss’.

“I hope it’s as sick as the last one. Putting those powers on display? Man, so cool.” Weiss chuckled softly at Yang’s enthusiasm.

“They’re certainly something, that’s for sure. It is strange that she’s been out of the public light for this long though…” Weiss said, brow furrowed.

“Does it really bother you that much?” Yang said, with Weiss nodding.

“Well, if something happened to one of the maiden families it’d be a pretty big problem, wouldn’t it?” Yang shrugged at Weiss’ words and turned to Blake.

“Well, what do you think? Something happen to Lady Fall?” The amber-eyed woman shrugged.

“Doesn’t matter to me.” Yang’s lips pursed as she Blake returned to her meal. Sighing, the blonde turned to look at Ruby.

“And what about you Ruby? You’ve been pretty quiet the whole time.” Ruby shrugged, eyes distant. “Is… Something on your mind, Ruby?” The girl shook her head gently for a moment, before pausing.

“Hey, Yang?” Yang’s brow furrowed slightly, something seemed off with the girl’s tone.

“What’s up?”

“There were three rooms that had teams in them, right?” The other girls looked between each other for a moment.

“Four, but that’s because two were for Jaune and Pyrrha’s team.” The older sister replied.

“Yeah, only three teams got through.” Weiss chipped in, Ruby’s expression growing dark.

“What happened to everyone else?” Ruby’s head turned, her gaze boring through Yang as she searched for an answer. “There were thirty-two, now there’s twelve. Where did everyone else go?” Her gaze shifted to Weiss, who blinked. Ruby looked between the two, pleading. All the two girls could do was shrug, until finally, a voice cracked the silence:

“They’re dead,” Blake said. Ruby’s gaze swung, Yang following it as she focused on the standoffish woman, “they died in that forest.” Ruby went rigid, her voice quivering as she spoke.

“B-but the teachers… Wouldn’t they help?” Blake’s eyes flicked upwards, focusing on the younger girl’s face.

“Why would they? Everyone knew the risks going in. Goodwitch even told us: ‘some of you will die’, remember?” Ruby flinched as she listened, the words sinking in. Blake’s eyes lazily slid over to regard the other two, focusing on Yang who seemed similarly horrified. “Why are you shocked?” The words hung heavy in the air for a moment as Yang found her voice.

“No way would they just let people die.” Blake shook her head slightly, dismissive of Yang’s suggestion.

“And our fight? How were they going to help if it went wrong? If that attack that’d hit her-” Blake pointed an accusatory fry at Ruby, “- had been lethal then how would they have saved us? We were underground.” Yang’s mouth hung ajar, shocked. Slowly, however, she regained her voice.

“Well, they set the whole thing up so they must have had a way to help us!” Blake shook her head, denying Yang’s protests.

“How? We were four metres underground. If they came blasting in, they’d have just killed us. They put the piece there, sure, but why would they put something that we could just abuse to get an instant win? That’d defeat the whole point.” Yang shook her head slightly, leaning back.

“But still, they wouldn’t just leave people to die…” Blake shook her head, incredulous at Yang’s words.

“You really don’t get it. Why are you even at Beacon?” The girl’s words were sharp.

“I wanted to get stronger and fight monsters, isn’t that a good enough reason?” Yang said, with Blake rolling her eyes.

“So what, you’re some adrenaline junky? You willing to die for that?” Yang went quiet, looking away from the black-haired woman. “And you, princess, you’re just here to get away from daddy. Do you think your sister would be happy if you’d died in the exam while she’s stuck crippled in bed?” Weiss looked aloof as Blake prodded:

“I knew what I was getting into. Don’t look at me.” Blake rolled her eyes then quickly shifted over to Ruby:

“Then let’s talk about you. You’re fifteen and still this naive, why the hell are you at Beacon?” Ruby quivered slightly, her voice small as she spoke:

“I wanna help people…” Blake paused just as she was about to speak, her eyes focusing on the girl. “I want to protect people, I wanna be a hero.” Blake’s mouth snapped shut for a moment as she studied the younger girl’s face, before sighing softly as she leaned back.

“... Fuck, I can’t criticize you for that.” The older girl’s eyes turned upwards, looking at the ceiling. “And you’re going to risk your life to get there? To be that hero?”

“Yes.” A slight laugh echoed out from the older girl’s throat.

“Well, at least you have that. You’re still naive.” Ruby’s head cocked to the side.

“Why do you say that?” The room seemed to fall silent as Ruby waited, Blake’s gaze gradually drifting downwards to meet Ruby’s hard, silver irises.

“People fight for what they believe in, Ruby. Some of them go around trying to do good whenever they can, others do evil things because they believe it’ll lead to a good future. The most contemptible are the ones who do evil things while convincing themselves that they’re the heroes.” Ruby blinked, confused. “Every single person in that exam fell into one of those three categories. Some wanted power, some wanted to escape, some wanted a grasp at glory, but everyone was willing to risk their lives for that thing, whether they realized it or not. I’m not sad that they died, because they died trying to get what they wanted. It would cheapen their desires and their struggles to want them to be saved, to think it should be given, rather than earned.” From the corner of her amber eyes, Blake could see that both Weiss and Yang had turned their whole attention onto her. “Look, what I’m trying to say is that it sucks that they died, but they knew it was a possibility. We all did whether we want to admit it or not. Take it however you want but that’s the reality of it.” Ruby sunk into her seat slightly, picking at the remnants of her meal.

“Is it wrong to be sad for them?” Blake grimaced slightly.

“No." Blake paused, sighing softly. "That’s normal for someone like you. Someone who's… _Normal._ ” The words hung in the awkward silence as Blake returned to her meal, her face a storm of emotions.

* * *

Birds chirped in the mid-morning sun, bathing themselves in the warm autumn sun. Below the trees within which they sat perched lay dozens of neatly-placed gravestones. The area was large yet still cramped due to the concentration of markers and Ruby could do little more than wander. The flowers she held were nondescript, just something she’d been able to purchase after leaving the memorial ceremony. The words she’d heard still stuck with her:

_“Let the passing of these brave men and women be inspirational, for these young adults sacrificed their safety and their futures. Each and everyone faced their trials with courage; each and everyone has earned the burial of a hero.”_

The words didn’t sit right with her, her feelings of unease only intensifying as they finally reached the one-hundred-and-seventh, the monolith that represented her own year. She squatted down, reading the names that had been etched onto its stone surface: _“Alfonse, Brandon, Cynthia, Edward, Elizabeth, Frederick, Hannah, Hailey, Isabelle, Jack, Jason, Louis, Martin, Noel, Patrick, Robert, Samantha, Simon, Victor, Zachary.”_ Twenty names in total, each carefully written with what looked like silver inlaid into the letters. Ruby looked to the stone to its left, observing the similar engravings, albeit with different names etched in. Sighing deeply, she turned her focus back to her own year’s stone and set down the flowers.

Ruby stayed silent for a moment, thinking of something to say until ultimately whispering a small prayer:

“May the gods give you passage to heaven.” The sombre girl's eyes opened, focusing on the stone’s surface as birds chirped and fluttered about above. For a moment, she allowed her attention to be pulled, observing the animals as they performed their sonnets.

“Their singing is quite beautiful, isn’t it?” The voice came from Ruby’s left and, a moment later, its owner rested a hand on the girl’s shoulder. “Did you come to pay your respects?” Ruby turned, Pyrrha’s face greeting her eyes as Ruby nodded.

“It felt like… Like it was the right thing to do.” Pyrrha drew away from the younger girl, a gentle smile on her face.

“I’m sure they are happy you came, even if neither of us had met them.” Ruby frowned slightly, observing the bouquet of poppies in Pyrrha’s hands. “The kindness of a stranger is calming to the dead.” The woman turned and knelt, setting down the small bundle of crimson flowers at the base of the stone before stepping back and clasping her hands together in prayer. A moment later, she finished and turned back to Ruby. “So what kind of flowers did you bring?” The younger girl blinked for a moment, fidgeting slightly as she looked away.

“Nothing special, just whatever I could actually buy…” Pyrrha nodded, a slight smile on her face.

“There’s no shame in getting whatever you can, I’m sure they’re happy.” Ruby blinked, looking at the small bouquet of poppies Pyrrha had brought.

“Uhm… Why did you bring poppies?” Pyrrha followed Ruby’s gaze.

“Both myself and Jaune are from Myre. There, it is customary to have a bundle of poppies as remembrance for those who died fighting.” Ruby looked away, her gaze trailing off towards the rows upon rows of tombstones. Some were decorated, others utterly forgotten and vacant. She remained silent for a time until finally, Ruby spoke:

“Hey Pyrrha, do you think it was right for people to die in the exam?” Pyrrha blinked, quietly sighing.

“No.” The words hung in the gentle breeze as the birdsong faded. “However, it is rare that anything in life is ‘right’. They were willing to risk their lives for what they wanted; for what they believed in.” Ruby turned to look at Pyrrha, studying the older girl’s sombre expression. “In an ideal world they would have all survived, however, in that ideal world we would not be working to become huntresses. Tell me, Ruby, you want to be a Huntress, yes?” Ruby nodded. “And you came here knowing the risks, right?” She nodded again. “Then you’re like every person whose name is written here. The only difference is that we overcame that first trial.”

“But aren’t you sad about it?” Pyrrha shook her head.

“No, Ruby. We should reserve our sadness for tragedies and injustices. For these ones-” Pyrrha’s gaze shifted, focusing on the memorial stone, “- we should celebrate. Not because they failed. No, we celebrate because they tried.” Ruby nodded solemnly as Pyrrha placed a hand on her arm. “It’s OK if it doesn’t feel right to you, Ruby. Everyone feels differently.”

“Indeed.” The voice came from the girls' right, pulling the attention of them both. Its owner, Headmaster Ozpin, strode towards them carrying a bundle of flowers that matched the one Ruby had brought. “It looks, however, like you both have yet more to say. Would you two be so kind as to accompany me?” The girls blinked in surprise but followed after the Headmaster nonetheless. “So tell me, you have misgivings about the exams, correct?”

“Myself not so much,” Pyrrha said, “however, Ruby has questions.” The Headmaster nodded, smiling gently.

“Well, Miss Rose, what is on your mind?” Ruby stammered for a moment, unsure of what to say.

“Wh-well... Uhm…” The Headmaster smiled, waiting patiently as the girl found her voice. “Wh-why didn’t you help any of the people who ended up dying?” Ozpin nodded, his smile ebbing away.

“Miss Rose, the reason why we do not intervene-” the Headmaster paused, slowing down to a halt in front of a gravestone, “- is because all our students must understand that they can only rely on themselves when in the field.” Ruby nodded, listening intently. “You students were all made aware of the risks involved. You were not uninformed, nor tricked. Each and every one of you showed courage in the face of adversity.” The man paused, his gaze trailing down to the text on the stone before him: _“Summer Rose”._ Ruby gasped softly. “A Huntress can die at any time, Miss Rose. That humanity is so willing to risk its life for a purpose greater than any individual, is breathtaking. For some it is for humanity and, for others, it is their loved ones.” Ruby trained her gaze on Ozpin’s solemn expression.

“Headmaster?” Pyrrha spoke, bidding the man continue.

“Ah, yes. Miss Nikos, tell me; what do you see upon this stone?” Pyrrha turned to read the engravings, speaking each name aloud until she reached the bottom.

“Summer… Rose?” Ozpin nodded.

“She was Miss Rose’s mother. Passed when Miss Rose was still young.” Pyrrha turned back to Ozpin, concerned. “I came to pay my own respects to her, as her teacher.” Pyrrha turned to Ruby, who looked up at the Headmaster.

“Thank you, Headmaster.” Ruby said, trying her best to smile as the man simply turned back towards her.

“Do not thank me, Ruby. All I ask is that you do your utmost to keep your name from being added to this cemetery.” Ruby blinked, confused as the Headmaster placed a hand on her shoulder. “And if you need anything, please, do ask.” Ruby nodded hesitantly. A moment later, the Headmaster’s scroll buzzed. Pulling it out, he flicked through the messages as a grimace spread across his face. “Ah… My apologies, I have been away from my duties for too long. Farewell, Miss Rose. Miss Nikos. Do enjoy your classes.” The girls nodded slowly as the man began walking away, bringing his scroll up to speak into it. Turning back to one another, Pyrrha shrugged as she started speaking.

“Want to go get something to eat? Oh, you’ve unpacked, right?” Ruby nodded, only to shake her head a moment later.

“No, I’ve got stuff I have to do.” Pyrrha nodded, smiling.

“Well, do feel free to try talking to us. Myself and Jaune, I mean.”

“Yeah…” Pyrrha bowed slightly before leaving Ruby alone. She stood there silently, studying the surface of the stone for a moment before sitting down in front of it, gazing at the stone’s face.

An hour passed before Ruby finally stood back up, wiping her eyes with her sleeve as she did so. The afternoon sun above bore down, its intoxicating warmth almost a burden as the girl clapped her hands against her cheeks. “Alright.” She moved her hands across her face, massaging the skin. “Time to get a move on.” Her words echoed through the vacant cemetery as she worked herself up to a smile. The unease was gone, replaced with an understanding that only cemented as she looked back down at the stone. “I’ll see you later, mom.” Ruby started walking away, only to pause a moment later and turning back. “I’m gonna make you proud.” She wheeled around once more, her boots tapping against the stone pathways as she walked.


	8. Know thy History

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Characters, worldbuilding, lore and conversations.

“Alright, settle down.” The elderly man’s voice echoed through the small auditorium as the students quietened. “We have a lot to cover, so to ensure that we waste nobody’s time, let us move quickly.” The man walked back from the centre of the stage, back behind a podium that was accompanied by a large table. Behind both of these was a large whiteboard, covered in cartoons and memes. The professor paused as he reached the podium, before resting his hands on its edges. He looked about the room, scanning across the faces of the students as he began speaking once more: “My name is Ethan Aubright, and I head the Faculty of Humanities. Like the other professors, I am a huntsman however my courses do not focus on teaching you how best to handle these monsters. Rather, my role is to teach you of the various nations of this world, as well as their history. Mine is not the only course in this subject matter, as Professor Oobleck covers some of these events I will mention in far more detail, and to an extent much further than I can. Are there any questions?” Professor Aubright looked throughout the room and, when nobody spoke up, he simply nodded. “Alright then, let us begin.”

“For the first class, I’ll give you an overview of each state and their various political systems.” The professor said, talking as he worked to clear off the whiteboard. “I understand that some students may be ignorant to some of this, so let’s begin by listing them.” He turned back as he finished, the whiteboard devoid of any markings and a fresh red pen in his hand. As he looked, he noticed Yang’s hand as the first to rise up. “Ah yes, your name, miss?”

“It’s Yang, Professor.” The professor nodded slowly.

“Mmm, Xiao Long? I believe I taught your father. That would have been, oh, twenty-odd years ago, no?” Yang smiled back at the elderly man.

“Yeah, that’d probably be when he was here.” Aubright nodded again.

“Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss Yang. Now, can you tell me the names of the various countries across our world? Oh, and the continents which they are on as well, if you would.”

“Yeah! So there’s Valentia and Vacuo on Sanus, Atlus on Solitas; and Mistral on Anima.” The professor listened as Yang spoke, writing out the continents and putting the names of the countries beneath them before turning back.

“Thank you, Yang. Now, is there anyone else?” He looked, noticing Pyrrha’s hand had risen. “Ah, Miss Nikos. Fill in the gaps, if you could.”

“Yes, professor.” Pyrrha stood slowly, taking her notes with her as she read them aloud: “On Sanus there is, as Yang said, Valentia. Valentia is actually two states that combined, and prior to this combination they were the Vale and Entite Kingdoms respectively.” She looked to the professor, who simply beckoned her to continue. “North of The Valentian Kingdoms is the Nation of Vitalis, a merchant republic. In the East is what we called the Kingdom of Myre, though I understand our monarch is actually a duke. South of Valentia is the Woodsman’s Lodge, which is a collection of city-states.” She looked back to the professor once more, who seemed to be waiting. When Pyrrha failed to continue, he motioned for her to take her seat before he began speaking again.

“Good, we are only missing two now. Anyone else?” Both Weiss’ and Blake’s hands rose at the same time, and the professor pointed to Weiss first. “Your name, miss?”

“It’s Weiss.” The professor’s attention turned, looking at Blake who stated her own name in turn.

“Alright Weiss, Blake. I expect one answer from each of you. Miss Schnee, you go first.”

“Yes, sir. To the North of Vacuo is the United Wyrmspire Republic.” The professor smiled, writing the name down on the board.

“Good. Now, Miss Belladonna, which is the last one we’re missing?” Blake’s bow rustled slightly as her name was called, and she quickly responded:

“Menagerie is missing.” The professor wrote it down quickly, before turning back to the room.

“Good. Thank you, Miss Belladonna. Now,” the professor paused, checking his watch before continuing; “we have forty minutes left, why don’t we start going over their political systems, starting with The Valentian Kingdoms.”

“Hey, do you get any of what this guy is saying?” Yang said under her breath and Weiss simply shook her head.

“I understand it, but this guy really does like to just go on.” Weiss said, looking down at her notes. While the professor had promised it’d be a brief overview, there was a clear disparity between what Yang considered ‘brief’ and the professor’s own interpretation. In just thirty minutes, Weiss had already filled multiple pages and Yang couldn’t help but be baffled by it. Ruby fared no better, the younger sister already having dozed off. Yang’s concerned look shifted back to Weiss, who simply sighed. “Before you ask, yes, you can copy my notes.” Yang breathed a sigh of relief:

“You’re the best.”

“Yeah, sure. Just, lemme focus, okay?” The professor paused mid-speech and turned towards the two girls.

“Ah, Miss Schnee, do you have anything to contribute?” Weiss sat up immediately, eyes fixing on the professor’s imposing stature. “Or, were you just whispering because I bored you?” Weiss’ eyes widened, shaking her head vigorously.

“N-no, sir!” The professor nodded.

“Then why don’t we have you talk about the next part. We were just about to begin speaking about Atlus, after all.” Weiss quietly exhaled, thankful for the small mercy that the professor had given. Had she acted like this back at an Atlus school, she’d have likely been disciplined. “Now, explain the political system of Atlus to us, if you would.”

“Yes sir!” Weiss stood up, leaving her notes on the table. “Atlus is a military dictatorship ruled by General Ironwood. It was formed by General Ironwood fourteen years ago, and they quickly conquered the various small nations across Solitas, consolidating them into a single state.” The professor nodded slowly as he listened, raising a hand to stop Weiss as she was about to continue.

“And how does Atlus select its leader?”

“The Atlus party, not to be confused with the country, votes for its leader. This leader rules for life, or until they are impeached by their party. As such, it is considered a constitutional dictatorship.”

“Who are Atlus’ allies and enemies?”

“Atlus is allied with the United Wyrmspire Republic and the Valentian Kingdoms. It considered the Vacuan Khaganate and the Mistralian Empire to be its enemies. Everyone else we have some positive relations with.” The professor nodded.

“Alright, that is enough Miss Schnee. Thank you.” Weiss sat back down without a word, heaving a quiet sigh of relief as the professor continued. “On the note of Vacuo and Mistral, they are both Imperial systems but in different ways. Vacuo is a country that consists of many nomadic tribes spread out across a vast desert, with each region having a Khan. The equivalent in our language would be king, though that title does not adequately describe the ruler of Vacuo, who holds the title of Khagan. It means, literally, ‘king of kings’. Simply put, it is an emperor who rules over many, many tribes. The Mistralian Empire is significantly different, and can anyone tell me why?” Pyrrha’s hand started raising, only for Ruby to suddenly perk up:

“Oh, I know!” The young girl’s excitement made the professor pause, a look of bewilderment on the old man’s face. Correcting himself, he chuckled slightly as he spoke:

“Alright young lady. What makes Mistral different from Vacuo?” Ruby nodded enthusiastically.

“Mistral is ruled by an Empress, right?” The professor nodded. “Yeah, so it’s not a Khan, right?” The professor laughed again.

“Is there anything else?” Ruby nodded slowly.

“Uhm, yeah, aren’t they like us? Like, they have cities and castles and stuff, not tribes?” The professor smiled softly.

“Yes, that is correct. Do you know what that is called?” Ruby shook her head slowly, drawing a nod from the old professor. “Ah, that’s quite alright. What is your name, young lady?”

“Uhm, I’m Ruby Rose.” The professor nodded again, his expression turning somewhat sombre.

“Ah, Summer’s girl. Well, Miss Rose, you are correct. Though you do not know the name, you did articulate the difference between the two. Mistral is a feudal system, and the people within its borders generally live in fixed settlements whilst those in Vacuo do not. A further difference is the rulers of each country and the cultures around them. Vacuo’s ruler is a warrior-king of sorts. Being able to fight and lead armies is what gives them power within their court. The Mistralian Empire, however, is ruled by the Spring Maiden and, according to all accounts, is immortal. Their system is a complex web of vassals and regional rulers, where they fight more wars against themselves than any external opponents. This has its benefits, however, as Mistral governs the entire continent of Anima and thus, its borders are secure. Now, to finish today’s class, why don’t we speak about Menagerie. Is anyone aware of Menagerie or its political system?” The professor paused, looking throughout the room, and was greeted only by silence. “Very well then.”

“Menagerie is a nation-state to the South of Anima, and it spans the entire island of the same name. It’s the Faunus kingdom, though that name is not exactly correct when we look at its political systems. It is, in fact, a Chiefdom, where there is a single High Chief who governs over the various lower-ranked chiefs. The current High Chief is, if I remember correctly, one Ghira Belladonna.” The professor paused, turning back to look at Blake: “An interesting coincidence, I suppose, but nothing more.” Blake quickly looked away, the bow on her head appearing to flatten. “Regardless of any odd similarities with names, the Belladonna dynasty has held power in Menagerie for the past century, since the formation of the state.” The professor paused again to check his watch before clicking his tongue. “Ah, but it seems we are out of time. I have a list of your readings and your first assignment here, please take both sheets and look over them tonight. I’ll have your textbooks for next week, so please do not worry about them. Now, have a good afternoon.”

The professor sat down on a nearby chair, watching the students come to pick up the papers he’d laid out on the table. The students filtered out of the room slowly, the man checking his attendance logs. There were many names he recognized, for better or worse and, as he looked back up from the list, he noticed Blake had come to pick up the handouts. She’d trailed behind the rest of the class, and the two had been left alone. Aubright grimaced slightly, watching the girl quietly slip the sheets into her bag. “Princess Belladonna, please, wait for a moment.” Blake froze immediately, her head turned away from the professor. “Why are you hiding your ears? You do understand that this kingdom is not one which tolerates the mistreatment of Faunus, yes?” Blake nodded slowly. “Then why is it that you do not show them?”

“Because…” Blake said, her words barely a whisper. The professor sighed slightly, pulling out a chair beside him.

“Come, sit. You have two hours before your next class.” Blake nodded meekly, obeying. “Now please, tell me. What here has you on edge?” She looked down, her bow now entirely flat as the ears within pressed the cloth against her scalp.

“I… I’m scared.” Aubright nodded slowly.

“Now what could you possibly be scared of, my dear? You’re safe, and we would not tolerate any mistreatment directed towards you.”

“But what if it was justified?” The professor paused, leaning back slightly.

“Go on.”

“What if you did something bad. Something really bad and, after you realized it was wrong to do that, it was too late and you’d hurt someone?” The professor pursed his lips, carefully studying the young woman’s face as she spoke. “What if that person you hurt… What if someone related to that person was right there in front of you, and then you realized that they weren’t as bad as you were told they were?” The corners of Blake’s eyes seemed to moisten, and Aubright quietly drew a cloth from his suitcoat before leaning forward to wipe the tears away.

“Princess, I know your history somewhat. You vanished several years ago, did you not? Am I correct to assume that you’d joined the White Fang?” Blake nodded. “Then it is likely you did some terrible things.” Blake nodded again. “And you’re afraid that those around you will hate and reject you, yes?” She looked down, tears freely flowing as Aubright placed the handkerchief in the woman’s hands. They sat in silence for a few moments, before Blake finally spoke, her voice barely audible:

“Yeah…” The professor smiled, placing a hand on Blake’s forearm.

“Princess, everyone makes mistakes in their life. Everyone has things that they regret. It is not my place to judge you, only to help you in moving past these events.” Blake nodded slowly, wiping the tears from her face. “I can offer advice, if you wish for it. As for a judgement of your character-” Aubright paused, waiting as Blake looked back up at him, “- I have faith in the Headmaster’s judgement. If you feel unsure of yourself and require advice, please seek me out.” Blake nodded slowly as the professor leaned back.

“Thank you, Professor.”

“It was a pleasure, Princess.” He watched as Blake stood and collected her things, before bowing slightly and leaving the room. Aubright waited, looking at the open doorway for a moment before sighing and returning to his list of names. “This year will certainly be interesting...”

* * *

Beacon’s cafeteria, referred to as the ‘hub’ by students, was surprisingly populated, with people dressed in all sorts of different ways. Jaune had gotten himself caught up in the fervour, looking through the various stalls and restaurants with greedy eyes, soaking in the scent and atmosphere. It was like the town markets he’d seen and participated in back home in Myre, but this was wholly different. Cultured blended with one another, Mistraelian cuisine not unlike what Ren and Nora would prepare set right beside the simple, hardy foods that people from Solitas would no doubt find nostalgic. He even found restaurants featuring the sorts of simple foods, pickled vegetables and sausages served with cheese and beer, that he recognized from home. It wasn’t his first time here, but just like every other, the experience had left him awestruck.

Settling on his meal of choice, he decided to enter a shop advertising dishes from Menagerie. He looked up at the menu, looking through the options and reading them aloud: “Fried vegetables with soy sauce, grilled noodles with peppers and beef, potato dumplings, fried octopus… Wow, there’s a lot of variation here…” He paused to look at the prices, reading the various tags. “Huh, they accept four currencies. Let’s see, there’s Lien, Atlus’ Luxmark, Vale’s Silvers and… Huh, they accept Myre’s Drachma.” He pulled out his wallet, checking the contents for a moment before sighing. “I should probably use that…” He looked back up to notice that the young woman who ran the stall was staring at him.

“Oi, you gonna buy something or not?” The woman’s vulpine ears swivelled towards Jaune, who blinked in surprise.

“Oh, crap, yeah. Sorry.” the Faunus woman frowned slightly, arms folded.

“Well, go on then. Make your order.” Jaune looked back up to the board that had the menu on it, and the woman sighed. “Ohh, you don’t know what you want. Want a recommendation?” Jaune looked back at her before nodding. “Kay, what’s your budget there, buddy?”

“two hundred Drachma.” The Faunus woman’s expression soured as Jaune spoke.

“Ah, you’re one of those people. Whatever. With that, you can get plenty. How about a rice bowl with some fried meat and vegetables on top? That sound good to you?” Jaune nodded slowly, perplexed by the sudden tension that’d arisen but simply shook away the feeling. “Alright, it’ll be ready in five.”

Jaune stepped back from the counter and started counting out the coinage he’d need. The coins were cold and heavy in his hand, ten in all. The coins counted out, he let his eyes drift back up to the signs above where he re-read the various prices. Once they’d reached the meal he’d been offered and he read the prices, Jaune offered a small sigh. The fox woman had recommended the most expensive item on the menu, which clocked in at about a hundred-and-eighty Drachma. Hefty from Jaune’s perspective- the average person in Myre could live off thirty Drachma in a day fairly easily, but when he looked at the comparisons to other currencies it was congruent. The Valentian Kingdoms were prosperous, far more so than Myre, so it made sense that their currency would be much more highly valued than the Drachma, with the same meal costing two-and-three-fifths silvers. The Luxmark was next at two marks and finally was one Lien would pay for the meal and then some. “Hey, Myre-boy, it’s ready.” Jaune’s focus was drawn back down to the fox-woman at the counter. “Unless you want to add something, come and pay up.”

“Oh, uh, yeah.” The woman cocked an eyebrow, head tilted slightly to the right. “Can I some deep-fried meats and vegetables? I see that one there is a hundred, can you add that?” The woman looked to where Jaune was pointing, before nodding.

“Alright, that brings your total to two-eighty” Jaune nodded, handing the woman the ten coins in his hand and then retrieving another twenty from the pouch. She looked down at the coinage, counting out the nineteen coins and placing the extra back on the table counter. “You gave me too much.” Jaune shook his head.

“Nah, it’s a tip. It’s thanks for putting up with me, I’m new here and all.” The woman’s ears perked up slightly though her expression didn’t shift at all as she slid the coin into the pocket of her apron.

“Well, thank you. I’ll get the rest of your order in just a moment.” Jaune nodded, leaning against a nearby pillar as the woman returned with another box, as well as a bottle. She placed them onto the tray alongside the rest of his order, then laid her hands down on the counter. Jaune looked quizzically at it, the bottle having not been part of his order, but when he looked at the fox-woman to confirm she simply shrugged. Thanking her, he grabbed the tray and began wading back out into the main hall of the cafeteria, where he noticed a group of familiar faces were seated.

The tray made a clicking noise as he set it down on the table, taking his seat beside a dejected-looking Ruby and across from a sympathetic Pyrrha. “Look, Ruby, it’s OK if you don’t get it at first. It’s a lot to take in.” Pyrrha said, hands hovering over a thick book of notes.

“But there’s soooo muuuuuuuch!” Ruby’s whining drew a chuckle from the rest of the group as they turned to look at Jaune.

“I see you found something you wanted.” Pyrrha nodded towards Jaune’s food and he shrugged.

“It was something. Decided to try food from Menagerie.” Pyrrha nodded.

“They have a lot of rice, don’t they? I think I read somewhere that their cuisine was influenced by Mistral…” A soft sigh came from beside Pyrrha, where Weiss was seated.

“Influenced isn’t exactly the right word. Most of the Menagerie noble families are from Mistral. The country is basically off-brand Mistral.” Pyrrha nodded again as Weiss spoke, jotting down a note in her book.

“Aren’t you guys going to eat?” Jaune looked around the group quizzically, and the girls nodded slowly with Yang speaking up:

“Yeah, we were waiting for you to sit down. Took orders in the mean-time.”

“Huh.”

“Yep, well, I guess we should go do it, eh Weiss?” The white-haired girl perked up when Yang called her out, with a quick ‘huh? What?’ being uttered before the blonde girl started dragging her away. Jaune turned back to Ruby, who was still trapped in the notes Weiss had given her earlier. “Here,” he started, pushing over the box with the fried meats and vegetables in it, “I got something for everyone.” Ruby got up slightly, watching as Jaune opened the box to reveal the golden-brown contents. While Pyrrha just smiled, Ruby let out a soft ‘oooh’ but didn’t reach out to take any. Looking towards Jaune, Ruby spoke:

“I think we should wait for everyone to get back.” Jaune nodded at her words, closing the box back up and leaning back against his chair.

“So you guys’ve been going over the lecture? What did you think of it?” Ruby groaned and Pyrrha laughed softly.

“It was certainly informative. I didn’t realize that the Wyrmspire Republic had a requirement for its citizens to undergo military service.” Pyrrha paused, flicking through her notes. “Right, two years for service and-” Jaune put his hands up, stopping Pyrrha from continuing.

“Hey, we don’t need to go over it again. It was hard enough staying awake the first time around.” Pyrrha laughed again and Jaune looked sympathetically towards Ruby who smiled weakly in return.

They finished putting away their notes just as Yang and Weiss returned, the latter of which barely balancing the two trays that she carried. Once they’d sat down, the group quietly tucked into their meals and shared the various sides that everyone had bought to share. Potato salad from Pyrrha, fries from Yang, calamari from Ruby and sausages from Weiss. The wholesome atmosphere quickly led the group to chat as they hastened through their meals, with the topic inevitably moving towards their next classes. “So, Ruby, what do you think we’ll be doing in the combat classes?” Jaune said, wiping some crumbs from his face.

“Well I think-” Ruby started, before taking a bite out of her sandwich and quickly swallowing, “- they’re probably gonna have instructors training us.” Jaune nodded slowly. “Everyone here can fight Grimm, after all.” Jaune paused, brow furling slightly, though Yang was the one to ultimately respond:

“Uncle Qrow told me that they’d also put us on combat missions too, like back at Signal.” Ruby looked over to her older sister.

“Oh yeah, he said that. Prolly won’t be in September though…” Ruby said.

“They’ll want to assess our skills before sending us out on contracts, most likely.” The response came from Pyrrha, who’d already finished the soup she’d ordered. “We would be representing not just ourselves, but the school and the Huntsman association. It would be unwise of them to throw inexperienced fighters into combat.” Ruby, Jaune and Yang all nodded in assent.

“Still, I wish we could go out sooner…” Ruby said, picking at her food.

“Hey, who knows? Maybe it’ll be your birthday present?” Weiss perked up slightly as Yang spoke.

“Oh? When is your birthday, Ruby?” The younger girl turned to look at Weiss.

“October twenty-first.” Weiss pulled out a small booklet and wrote something down in it before turning to Yang.

“And Yang? What about you?” Yang shrugged.

“Tomorrow.” Weiss frowned at the blonde’s nonchalance.

“Really? Ugh, good thing I know now, I can at least put together something…” Yang cocked her head slightly.

“Why? It’s just my birthday.” Weiss looked surprised.

“Wait, do people in Vale not celebrate birthdays?” Yang and Ruby looked at each other and shrugged.

“Our dad was always drunk so we didn’t really have much to celebrate.” Ruby nodded at her sister’s words.

“Though, Uncle Qrow would always take us out on the thirtieth, you think that was it?” Yang nodded.

“Yeah, so we never really had ‘birthdays’.” Weiss looked between the two, shocked.

“Okay, we need to fix this. Tomorrow we’re throwing you a party, Yang.” Yang and Ruby looked at the white-haired girl confused, before shrugging in unison once again.

The group chittered amongst themselves a bit more, gossiping about the various things they’d seen. To Jaune it was pretty much all insignificant, just girls talking about girl stuff, until the topic shifted. “- and hey, Jaune, that chick at the Menagerie restaurant was pretty cute, eh? What’d you say to sweet talk her?” Yang said, grinning. Jaune coughed slightly, surprised.

“I-I don’t know what you mean.” Yang laughed.

“Come on, that girl was happy and it’s not like anyone else was going there. What’d ya say to her?” Jaune looked away.

“Nothing, she seemed like she was having a bad day so I gave her a tip. Wanted to brighten it up a bit, you know?” The girls looked towards each other. “What, did I do something weird?”

“You said she was having a bad day?” Weiss seemed concerned as she spoke, and Jaune nodded. “Uhm, how did you pay for your food?”

“Drachma? Why?” At that, everyone at the table except for Jaune and Pyrrha nodded, with Yang responding:

“Jaune, Faunus don’t exactly… think highly of Myre, you know?” Jaune tilted his head, confused. “You guys have that Faunus serf thing, so, you know…” Jaune’s eyes widened in surprise:

“Wait, you guys think that only applies to Faunus?” The three girls looked amongst each other while Pyrrha just watched. “There are human serfs out in the countryside and it’s a big issue. Pretty much everyone wants to get rid of it except for nobles.” The three girls nodded and, out of the corner of his eye, Jaune could barely catch Pyrrha smiling. “Anyways, it’s fine if she thought that. I mean, I can see it. People only see what’s from the cities, right? I’m just happy that I made her happy.” A quiet fell over the group for a moment, the three girls turning back towards Pyrrha who simply smiled.

“Well,” Yang started, a half-cocked grin on her face, “I guess you’re right on that. Seriously though, you should try talking to her. She’s probably your type~”. Jaune looked away embarrassed and the four girls laughed in unison as their break came to an end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Had to spend a lot of time on building a document noting down all the stuff I went over in this, because it's how the world works.  
> That's why this chapter ended up taking so long.
> 
> Yell at me if you think I did a poor job.  
> Please, I need criticism.


End file.
